Another Solution
by DryBonesKing
Summary: The Uchiha clan had been planning a coup against Konoha. In an effort to create peace and prevent a civil war, Sarutobi Hiruzen appointed Uchiha Itachi as his successor. Instead of becoming an S-Ranked missing ninja, Itachi was now being trained to become the Godaime Hokage. This decision would change the lives of many, especially the life of Uzumaki Naruto. NaruFū
1. Prologue: The Alternate Solution

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the rights to Naruto. Sadly, I do not have a close enough relationship with Masashi Kishimoto where he would feel comfortable giving me the rights. As a matter of fact, I have no relationship with him at all! That makes me sad...

**Author's Note:** Usually I'd like to put something witty here, but I'm just going to let you all get started with my story. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Night had long past over Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. With the moon shining in the night sky, many of the residents had gone to sleep. Only a few of its residents were awake at this hour. One of these few residents was the Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The aged shinobi sat at his desk doing paperwork. Hiruzen was trying to find ways to keep himself awake by doing one of the more mundane aspects of being Hokage. He was, however, more focused on the door to his office. The man was currently waiting for a specific shinobi to arrive so that he could have a discussion with him.

After the Sandaime finished a whole stack of paperwork, he heard a knock on the door.

"Enter." Hiruzen spoke up as he moved his paperwork to the side of his desk.

The Sandaime Hokage watched as the door to his office opened. A young man dressed in the Konoha Anbu uniform walked into the room. He wore a mask that identified him as the Anbu operative 'Weasel'. The young man walked to the center of the room before bowing to the Hokage.

"You can take off your mask, Itachi, and have a seat. I have many things we need to discuss." Hiruzen said.

"Understood." The Anbu nodded.

The young man removed his mask, revealing onyx eyes and jet black hair. The Anbu operative, Itachi, proceeded to sit down in a chair in front of Hiruzen's desk.

"How are you, Itachi? Do you have anything to report yourself?" Hiruzen questioned.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama. I just left the compound after spying on a personal meeting between my father and a few of the main conspirators in my clan. I have reason to believe that the coup they have been planning will occur in a month's time."

Hiruzen sighed. Itachi's clan, the Uchiha Clan, had been planning a coup d'état against Konoha. The clan, ever since the Kyūbi attack , had been treated negatively by a good portion of the Konoha shinobi. They were under suspicion as possible instigators of the fox's attack. Due to this discrimination and suspicion, the Uchiha Clan had started to resent Konoha and its ideals and were planning to act appropriately. The end result of the Uchiha Clan's actions, as the Hokage and Itachi saw it, would be a civil war that would destroy Konoha.

"Is there any more information you have heard?" Hiruzen asked as he massaged his temples.

Itachi shook his head. "The clan is being secretive about who they let know information, even amongst the conspirators." The Anbu operative paused in his speech for a few seconds before speaking again. "I believe they are starting to suspect that I am leaking information of the coup."

The Sandaime sighed in response again. With each subsequent meeting with Itachi, the information he gave became graver and more upsetting to the aged Hokage. Action was going to be needed soon.

Thankfully, Hiruzen had an idea for an action.

"Itachi, ever since you informed me about your clan's plan, I have been trying to come up with a solution. Tonight, I believe I finally have one." He claimed.

Itachi nodded. The Uchiha had an idea on the Hokage's 'solution'. Earlier that day, he had discussed the coup with Shimura Danzō. Danzō had informed him about the need to remove all threats to Konoha and had encouraged him to eliminate the members of his clan. Itachi, as much as the idea pained him, couldn't fault the logic behind it. The hate of his clan was at an all-time high. Something had to be done to avert the upcoming war and removing the instigators of this war would be the most ideal way to keep Konoha safe. Itachi, having this idea in his head, listened to his Hokage, expecting to be ordered to massacre his own clan.

"I am sick of violence. We just fought the Third Shinobi World War and I do not want to see any more shinobi die. Peace is needed in this village." Hiruzen declared. "Therefore, I have decided that the village needs to strengthen the bond with your clan. I know many of the Uchiha feel underrepresented in our government and feel discriminated against. Something needs to be done about this in order to bring peace."

Hiruzen closed his eyes for a second before opening them again. A smile graced his lips before he spoke again.

"I have decided it's about time Konoha has had an Uchiha Hokage. Itachi, from this day forward, I will begin training you in order for you to replace me and claim the title of Godaime Hokage." He told the Anbu operative.

Uchiha Itachi was a shinobi infamous for his ability to act purely on reason and hide his emotions completely. After hearing the Hokage's 'solution', however, his lauded ability to hide emotions faded. His eyes widened in surprise and his mouth dropped slightly. He remained silent, processing the information. A few seconds passed before he re-obtained the ability to speak.

"Hokage-sama…are you sure of this?" He asked quietly. "I'm not qualified to lead Konoha. I don't have any of the capabilities to do so."

"Itachi, you are more than qualified. You are one of the most talented and respected shinobi of your generation, and you continue to grow in skill and in reputation as the years go by." Hiruzen noted proudly. "I realize you may not be familiar with all of the political aspects of the position, which is why I will be training you. It will be a few years before you probably are ready to replace me. However, I personally believe that there is no other perfect candidate than you."

Itachi didn't say anything, still processing the information. Confusion was evident on the boy's face, causing Hiruzen to sigh. He then started to speak again to further explain his decision.

"Your clan's actions are based on their treatment in the village and how they feel the other members of Konoha view them. They feel as if we are out to get them. So, this is also a political appeasement to your clan. With you, an Uchiha, as Hokage, your clan will see the Hokage is one of them. They will believe that you will not act against their best wishes." The Sandaime elaborated.

"But will it work? And are there not better options than me?" Itachi questioned.

The Sandaime shook his head. "There is no guarantee. However, I know your father and I know the multiple Uchiha that are under me. They do not want needless fighting. They are acting in what they feel is in their best interest. And seeing you as Hokage, I feel as if they will see you as Hokage and, by association, a village with their best interest in mind. I believe this will work!" The Hokage then shook his head again. "And, considering that your clan is planning a coup, I feel that you, the shinobi who informed me of this coup, is the one who is acting with the village's best interest in mind. There is no better candidate than you."

Itachi stayed quiet. His confusion faded, but there was still obvious conflict in his eyes. He remained in deep thought before speaking quietly.

"Hokage-sama…I do not feel as if I am ready to become Hokage. However, I personally agree with most of your logic and I know you know more than me about what is best for the village. If you feel this is the best solution and will help bring peace to Konoha, then let your will be done." He said.

Hiruzen chuckled in response. "You say you don't feel ready, but are willing to do so if it's for the village's safety and peace. Uchiha Itachi, you really are going to become a great Hokage."

'_Hokage…'_ Itachi repeated the name and the idea in his head. After listening to the Hokage's logic and opinion, the Uchiha was starting to slowly accept it and the responsibilities it will bring. _'If it brings peace to the village and my clan, then so be it.'_

"If you say so, Hokage-sama." Itachi said, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Itachi, I just declared you my successor. You can drop the –sama." Hiruzen chuckled. "Anyway, you are dismissed. Return to your clan. I will make my announcement about your appointment tomorrow."

The Anbu operative bowed in response before exiting the room. With his discussion with Itachi over, Sarutobi Hiruzen too left the room to head to bed. Both shinobi had only one thought in mind: that this solution would work and bring the village to peace.

* * *

"Itachi, you're home late."

Itachi, upon entering his house in the Uchiha Clan Estate, was immediately greeted by his father, Uchiha Fugaku. The man was leaning against the doorway to the house, still fully dressed.

"Father." Itachi bowed to the man upon seeing him. "I am surprised you're up."

"I'm surprised to see you out for so long." Fugaku replied, a slight bitter tone to his voice. "Where were you? I've been looking for you for the past few hours."

Itachi resisted the urge to frown. "Forgive me. I was summoned by Hokage-sama to discuss something with him."

"Summoned by the Hokage, huh?" Fugaku grumbled, his words sounding almost poisonous. He continued to speak, this time louder. "Well, what then? What was so important that he summoned you this late at night?'

Itachi actually gulped slightly. _'This is it….'_

"Hokage-sama has appointed me to be his successor. I am going to be the Godaime Hokage." He answered.

Fugaku's eyes widened and he nearly lost his balance. Upon composing himself, he openly gaped at his son, registering his words.

"He s-said what?" The Uchiha clan head questioned, stuttering slightly.

"He said that he was going to train me these next few years in politics. Afterwards, I am to be appointed as Godaime Hokage." Itachi answered again, this time more quietly.

Itachi and Fugaku studied each other. Itachi was trying to see how his father was going to react to the news and whether or not his new appointment would help destroy the plans for the coup. Fugaku, on the other hand, was simply trying to imagine what Itachi had just said.

"…Sarutobi Hiruzen appointed you to be Hokage?" Fugaku repeated the idea again.

Itachi nodded in response.

"…you, an Uchiha?"

Again, Itachi nodded.

The idea seemed so foreign and impossible to Fugaku. Never in his lifetime could he imagine an Uchiha being Hokage: an Uchiha being in charge of Konoha. The village, as he saw it, had been overrun with Senju ideas and had turned against the Uchiha clan in the present day. The very idea of an Uchiha Hokage was just impossible! Now, however, according to his son, the 'impossible' happened.

"Itachi…what does this mean, then?" Fugaku asked.

Itachi shook his head. "What does it mean to you, father?"

Fugaku closed his eyes. Ever since the Kyūbi attack and the first accusations against his clan about the incident, he has grown to resent Konoha and being a part of the village. He genuinely feared that the village would one day wipeout his clan for being 'threats' to the village's safety. He believed that it was going to happen and that he needed to act fast before it did happen! Now, with the idea of an Uchiha, his own _son_, as Hokage, his fear seemed to be less certain.

"…Itachi, what do you really think?" Fugaku asked quietly. "About everything? The Hokage, the clan, the village…everything."

Itachi remained silent for a second, trying to think of the proper words, before he started to speak. "I've seen enough death already to last a lifetime. I…I don't want to see anyone die, whether they be Uchiha or other Konoha shinobi. I want to do my part to make sure everyone in this village is able to be in peace."

"So you were never in favor of the coup…" Fugaku grumbled quietly. "…never on the side of your clan."

Itachi shook his head profusely. "I have never been against our clan. I want what is best for all of us. I just personally believe that a coup and the war that it would cause would be detrimental for everyone involved, especially our clan." The Anbu operative's eyes narrowed. They were filled with determination. "I want to do my part to make sure everyone, Uchiha or not, is able to live in peace. And if I must become Hokage to create this peace, then so be it."

Fugaku said nothing as he closed his eyes in deep thought. The determination that had filled Itachi was slowly starting to fade again as he worried about his father's response. Just as he was about to speak up, his father opened his eyes and laughed quietly.

"Heh, you know, Itachi, I always imagined you as a leader. I always was expecting you to replace me as the head of the Uchiha clan and lead our clan to greatness. But this…" Fugaku gave his son a proud smile. "You've succeeded my expectations. I'm expecting you to be the best damn Hokage this village has ever had."

"Father…" Itachi's eyes widened. "Does that mean…"

"No clan of mine will turn its back on my son and the village he represents…we won't turn against our village!" The Uchiha clan head stated firmly. "Tomorrow, at the clan meeting, I want you with me as we cancel our plans and reveal to everyone that you are going to become the Hokage."

"Father…" Itachi's eyes threatened to water as he bowed to his father in gratitude. "Thank you."

"Heh, still as stiff as ever. No need to bow to me!" Fugaku was now laughing loudly, filled with joy that he had been missing for the past eight years. The man rushed over to his son and pulled him into a hug. Itachi returned the hug immediately. "If anything, I should be thanking you. You've done a good job as a shinobi, Itachi, and I know you're going to be a great Hokage who will have the village and the Uchiha's interests in mind. I'm proud of you!"

After finishing there hug, the two Uchiha bid each other goodnight and headed off to bed. Ever since he heard about the ideas of the coup, Itachi had been having troubles sleeping. Now, knowing that the coup was going to be over, the Uchiha prodigy was able to fall asleep easily.

* * *

The next day, in the afternoon, Itachi arrived at the Hokage's office. Sarutobi Hiruzen greeted him with a knowing smile on his face.

"I take it the news went over well within the clan?" Hiruzen asked the Uchiha prodigy.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Itachi replied with a smile of his own. "The clan is still celebrating the idea of an Uchiha as Hokage. Nearly all of the conspirators have changed their tune and are now fully in support of Konoha again. They all feel as if an Uchiha as Hokage will improve their reputation in the village greatly."

"Excellent!" The Sandaime cheered loudly. He then recognized a word the Uchiha had used and frowned slightly. "…I noticed you did not say all of the conspirators."

"I didn't." Itachi's smile faded as well. "The main conspirators for the coup along with my father were Uchiha Uragiri, Uchiha Gekido, and Uchiha Ryū. All three men have vanished without a trace. No one has seen them since the previous day."

"No one has seen them at all?" Hiruzen questioned.

Itachi shook his head. "I'm starting to think that they may have heard me talk to my father about the appointment to Hokage. Once they heard that the coup was going to be canceled, they may have fled the village." The Anbu operative sighed. "This is all speculation, but I have no idea what happened to them otherwise."

"This is troubling. That they would be able to escape the village without a single person noticing…" Hiruzen shook his head in frustration. "I'll send shinobi out to search for them. If they do not appear somewhere in the village by the end of the day, they will be marked as missing ninja and will be placed in the bingo book. If they really fled the village because the coup was called off, then they are a danger to Konoha and must be dealt with immediately!"

"Agreed." Itachi nodded.

Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as the door to his office was slammed open. A young, blonde boy around eight years old with blue eyes and whisker marks on his cheeks ran into the room.

"Hey old man! You ready to go to lunch?" The little boy asked excitedly. "It's Tuesday! You promised we'd go to Ichiraku's today!"

Hiruzen and Itachi stared at the blonde boy for a few seconds before Hiruzen smiled at him.

"I almost forgot, Naruto-kun. You tend to forget these things when you reach my age." He said with a laugh.

"Ah, come on! I know you're old, but you can't be that old yet! You got, what, another ten to twenty years left?" The blonde, Naruto, wondered with a shrug.

"Naruto-kun, I certainly hope I have longer than ten years!" Hiruzen said immediately with a sweat drop.

"Eh, you probably do. I don't know!" The boy shrugged again in response before his eyes filled up with excitement. "Well, who cares if you forgot? Can we go to Ichiraku's now?"

"Heh." Itachi chuckled slightly at the interaction between Naruto and the Sandaime. He got up from his chair and walked towards the door. "We can talk later, Hokage-sama. You enjoy your lunch."

"Come back later tonight. Again, Itachi, we have much to discuss!" Hiruzen informed him.

Itachi nodded before bowing to the Hokage and Naruto. He then left the room. Naruto studied the young man walking out before turning to the aged Sandaime.

"Hey, hey, who was that? He looks familiar." Naruto mumbled.

"He very well may. He's Uchiha Itachi, the older brother of one of your classmates, Sasuke." Hiruzen answered.

"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened.

"Yes." The Sandaime chuckled. "He's also going to the next Hokage."

Naruto's eyes widened further before he let out a loud scream. "WHAT? BUT I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE GODAIME HOKAGE DATTEBAYO!"

Hiruzen's chuckles turned to a loud laugh as he watched the boy he treated like a grandson pout.

"Calm down Naruto-kun. I have faith that you will become Hokage one of these days. It just so happens that Konoha needs a new one right now, and Itachi is the best candidate for the job." Hiruzen told the boy to appease him.

"…hmm…" Naruto stopped shouting and started to think. "Yeah, I guess. You are old, so it's a good idea to get someone younger for now. But what's so special about him?"

"Tell you what, we can talk about Itachi over lunch. You still want to go, right?" Hiruzen reminded Naruto about the reason the blonde came in the first place.

Naruto's eyes widened in realization before he grabbed the Hokage's hand and dragged him out of the office to go get lunch. The boy was mumbling 'Ichiraku's', 'miso ramen', and 'delicious' the entire way out of the building while the Sandaime chuckled at the boy's antics.

* * *

The previous night, Sarutobi Hiruzen made a decision to appoint Uchiha Itachi as the future Godaime Hokage. Both he and Itachi agreed to the idea, feeling as if it was the option that would generate peace for Konoha. The two men were unaware of the consequences Hiruzen's appointment would have on the entire shinobi world.

* * *

**Author's Note: **And here is the prologue for my new story, "Another Solution!"

To anyone who is following my other story, "True Potential", fear not: I will be still updating it. I am close to finishing up the next chapter actually! However, I wanted to also start this story as well. I couldn't get this idea out of my head! It was just begging to be written! I have a system in mind for my writing and will be able to update both stories consistently.

I will be working on the next chapter immediately and it will be up as soon as it is done. Please review and give me any criticism or comments that you feel can improve the story and my writing. Anything you say can only improve my stories for you all!

That's all I have to say for now. I will see you when I finish chapter two! Until then :)


	2. The Godaime Hokage

**Disclaimer: **I really don't own Naruto. Stop assuming that I do! Your assumptions make me realize that I never will own Naruto, and that thought hurts me...

**Author's Note: **This chapter...was fast! I'm not going to keep you waiting here. Here's chapter two! Enjoy :)

* * *

**Two years later…**

"Iruka-sensei, it's time for class to be over! Can we go now?"

Umino Iruka, instructor at the Konoha Shinobi Academy, looked up at the clock in his classroom. It was indeed time for class to end for the day. Before he dismissed his students, though, he had an announcement to give.

"I'll let you all out for the day soon, don't worry. But before I do, I want to remind you guys that because tomorrow is a special day, class tomorrow will be canceled." He explained.

Most of the academy students started to cheer loudly at the prospect of having no class. One student, however, was confused.

"Sensei, what do you mean? What's so special about tomorrow?" He asked.

Before Iruka could answer, one of the other classmates, Inuzuka Kiba, let out a loud scoff.

"You don't know? What, do ya live under a rock?" The Inuzuka laughed to himself. "Tomorrow's the day where the Sandaime steps down and the Godaime replaces him."

Iruka was about to lecture Kiba about his tone of voice and attitude, but he was again interrupted by more cries of confusion from the other students.

"We're getting a new Hokage?"

"Since when?"

"Why did I not know about this?"

'_It's been known for two years…and I've been talking about this all week…I swear, do any of my students pay attention to anything?'_ The Academy Instructor sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, the old man decided he wanted to put someone else in charge. Someone a lot younger." Uzumaki Naruto said loudly, getting everyone's attention.

"Oh be quiet Naruto! Like you knew about this if I didn't!" One of his fellow students, a girl with brown hair, said as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey Mai, you don't know shit! Don't act like your smart or anything." Naruto exclaimed. In response, the girl, Mai, reddened in anger. Before she could do anything about his comments, Naruto continued to speak. "The Godaime is going to be some black haired guy named Itachi."

"He's my brother."

All eyes were then directed towards Uchiha Sasuke. The boy, usually sitting quietly in his seat until class ended, was standing up.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Old man Sandaime mentioned that to me. I forgot about that." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Sasuke nodded in response. "The Sandaime has been training my brother for the past two years in all of the duties of the position. Today, he's finally ready to succeed him."

Immediately after Sasuke's comment, nearly all of the kunoichi rushed over to Sasuke's seat. Most of them were blushing and a few of them even appeared to have 'hearts' in their eyes.

"Of course your brother would be Hokage, Sasuke-kun." Ino said dreamily.

"Maybe you'll be the Rokudaime after him!" Mai added in a similar dreamy tone.

"…whatever." Sasuke rolled his eyes in response as he backed away from the girls. "…can I get going now?"

"Hey, I'm the one going to be Rokudaime! Get in like Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

Naruto's female classmates turned their attention away from Sasuke and towards Naruto. They all glared at the blonde, releasing a sizable amount of killing intent at the boy. Sasuke took this opportunity to get out of his chair and away from the girls. He then started to walk to the door.

"You can have the position Naruto. Being the 'Hokage' is Itachi's thing. Not mine." The Uchiha boy said dismissively. Naruto's eyes widened slightly in response, but Sasuke paid it no mind. He, instead, turned his head towards Iruka. "Iruka-sensei, may I be excused?"

Iruka blinked in response before nodding. "Yes, class is dismissed. Have a good day!"

Sasuke bowed before leaving the room. The other academy students followed behind one-by-one. Naruto, too, walked out of the room slowly. The blonde, however, was deep in thought.

'_Sasuke seemed upset when we talked about the Hokage.'_ Naruto noted with a frown on his face. _'…why would it bother him, though? What would upset him about it?'_

* * *

'_This is the place…_' Itachi noted a sign of a building as he walked into it.

Itachi entered a small teashop near the Konoha Ninja Academy. The young man walked up, ordered a cup of tea, and sat down at an empty table. He then stared at the door.

A few minutes passed and Itachi received his cup of tea. The door then opened up to the shop and another man walked into the room. He was an old man with black shaggy hair. He had bandages covering his forehead and his right eye. He had a white shirt on with a black robe over it that covered his right arm. The man walked over to the counter with a cane and ordered a cup of a tea. Itachi mentally tensed at the sight of the man, but he had no outwardly reaction.

After receiving his tea, the man walked over to Itachi's table and sat down.

"Thank you for coming at my request Itachi. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long." He told the Uchiha.

Itachi shook his head in response. "I was only here for a few minutes. Don't worry about it Danzō-sama."

The crippled man, Danzō, nodded in response. The two men took a sip of their tea in near unison. Silence filled the table for a few seconds before Itachi started to speak.

"Forgive me for asking, but what exactly did you want to talk about today? It's unusual for you to plan a meeting with someone. Especially during the day." Itachi noted with a neutral tone of voice.

"Your schedule is going to be filled in the next few days. I felt like I should talk to you while I had the opportunity." Danzō commented. "How do you feel, Itachi? Tomorrow is your big day."

"I've been training for this day the past two years. I feel ready." Itachi responded.

"You're not nervous at all?" He questioned.

"Why would I be?" The Uchiha asked.

"Being Hokage is a stressful position. I'm sure Hiruzen has gotten that point across." The crippled man noted as he stared at his tea. "The entire village is going to be your responsibility. It'll be your duty to keep this village safe." Danzō's eyes left his tea and glared at the Uchiha. "The entire village: not just your clan."

Itachi matched his glare with one of his own. "I realize that. I'll do my best."

"But is your best enough?" Danzō questioned, eyes going back to his tea. He took a sip before speaking again. "A prodigy you may be, but you are also young and inexperienced in the world of politics."

"The Yondaime was also young when he was chosen to become Hokage." Itachi pointed out.

"As was the Yondaime Mizukage. I'm pretty sure we all know how well that decision worked out for Kiri." Danzō retorted.

Itachi frowned. Kirigakure appointed the Yondaime Mizukage, Yagura, when he was seventeen years old. Ten years had passed since his appointment and the village of Kirigakure had fallen into a period of bloodshed and civil war due to the leadership of Yagura.

Itachi pushed his teacup to the side of the table and glared at the crippled man. "Danzō, what exactly are you wanting to talk to me about? Are you trying to threaten me in some way or something?"

Danzō let out a small chuckle. "Threaten? No, of course not. I'm not one for threats: I simply act when I see a need for action." The man then glared back at Itachi. "I just wanted to remind you of the importance of the position of Hokage. Your life is forfeit now. You belong to Konoha. Konoha's safety and power are all that should matter to you. I trust you will be able to act in the best interests of the village."

The Uchiha nodded, not dropping his gaze. "I will give my all for this village."

The older man's glare intensified. "For Konoha's sake, I hope it is enough. Just remember that what is in the best interest of the village may not always be…the most ethical of decisions."

Danzō got out of his chair and picked up his teacup. Bidding farewell to the Uchiha, he proceeded to walk out of the restaurant. Itachi was left alone at his table.

"…what is he planning?" Itachi mumbled to himself as he got out of his own chair.

Itachi left the teahouse as well and headed back home. He was going need to get as much rest as he could. Tomorrow was going to be a big day for him…

* * *

The next day came quickly for the people of Konoha. Celebration filled the streets of the village as villagers crowded around the Hokage's Mansion. Many were buying decorations, food, and other items to commemorate the day while they wait for the inauguration of the Godaime.

Inside the mansion, Uchiha Itachi was getting prepared for the inauguration in a locked room. His parents, Mikoto and Fugaku, his younger brother Sasuke, and his best friend Shisui were all waiting outside of the room impatiently for the soon-to-be Godaime. After a while, Itachi walked out dressed in the robes of the Hokage.

Fugaku smiled proudly at his eldest son. "Itachi, the robes suit you. You look like a true kage."

"I'll say!" Shisui added with a playful smirk. "Looking good Itachi."

Itachi smiled in response back. "Thank you-"

"Now all we have to do is get you a little more personality, lest we have to live under the reign of the most boring Hokage in the history of ever!" Shisui added.

Itachi's smile dropped and he gave a glare at his best friend. Shisui and Sasuke proceeded to laugh loudly at Shisui's joke. Fugaku chuckled lightly as well. Mikoto, however, ignored the laughing boys and walked over to her son. The woman had tears of joy in her eyes as she gazed at him.

"Itachi…you look so dashing, so handsome." Mikoto told her son as she gave him a hug. "I'm so proud of you…"

Her eldest son returned the hug and rubbed her back gently. "Mother…"

"I can hardly believe it! My little baby boy is the Hokage!" Mikoto tightened her hug on Itachi. "I remember back when you were just a year or two old and you stole your father's forehead protector! You tried to so hard to get it on your head like him but you couldn't and you were crying, because you weren't a tough shinobi like your father. And that little baby boy has grown up into the most powerful shinobi in Konoha!"

"Whoa, whoa. What was this about Itachi crying because he couldn't get a forehead protector tied to his head?" Shisui interrupted the moment, his smirk seemingly growing.

Itachi resisted the urge to blush and shook his head. He pulled away from his hug with his mother and gave her a look. "Mother, please, I'd rather not discuss my early childhood right now."

"No, no, go on Mom. What else do you have to say about Itachi?" Sasuke added with a similar smirk to Shisui.

"Ah, Itachi. The robes suit you well!"

All Uchiha clan members in the room turned their heads. Sarutobi Hiruzen entered the room. The man was wearing a black mesh suit instead of the Hokage robes that he was generally seen wearing. He was holding the Hokage's red hat in his hands.

"Sandaime-sama, it's nice to see you." Fugaku bowed to the man. "Is it time for the inauguration."

"Fugaku, I will soon no longer be active Hokage. Just call me Hiruzen." Hiruzen said with a slight chuckle. "And yes, it is indeed time. Are you ready Itachi?"

The Uchiha prodigy nodded in response.

"Then let's get going." The Sandaime suggested before turning to Itachi's family and Shisui. "The four of you may want to head on outside. Make sure you get there before us!"

"Got it." Mikoto nodded in understanding. "Itachi, we are so proud of you!"

"Do us proud, son. This is your day!" Fugaku added.

"Itachi, in all seriousness, you're gonna be the best Hokage we've had." Shisui said with a smile.

Sasuke gave no verbal reply. He gave his brother a thumbs up, which Itachi quickly returned with one of his own.

The Uchiha prodigy's family, along with Shisui, left the room and headed on outside the mansion to join the festivities. Hiruzen and Itachi were left alone. The two men proceeded to walk further into the mansion, heading towards a nearby balcony.

"So, Hiruzen-san, what are you going to do now after you pass on the title to me?" Itachi questioned, making a note to use the Sandaime's name instead of his title.

"Well, I'll have a lot more free time now. Perhaps I'll try and be more involved in the Ninja Academy and try and help train the new generation. I always told myself that if I didn't get the Hokage position, I would have tried to be an academy instructor." Hiruzen answered with a chuckle.

"Only someone like you would have the patience for that job." Itachi responded with a similar laugh.

"Indeed. It takes a lot of patience, but it's definitely worth it. At the very least, it'll be a good way to kill time as I get older and older." The Sandaime noted.

After a minute of walking and some small conversation, Itachi and Hiruzen reached their destination: the balcony doors. Hiruzen walked forward onto the balcony and stood at the end of the balcony. The people of Konoha saw their Sandaime and started to cheer as all eyes focused on him.

Hiruzen delivered a speech, talking about his time as a shinobi and about his reign as the Sandaime. He talked about how his return to the position after the death of the Yondaime and how Konoha has recovered since the Kyūbi attack. He then talked about how the people of Konoha, both civilians and shinobi, were the strongest and most caring throughout the shinobi nations and how it was an honor for him to serve as their leader for so long. His speech received a loud applause from the crowd.

After completing his speech, he turned his attention back, towards Itachi. The Uchiha nodded and proceeded to walk forward. He walked on to the balcony and stood next to Hiruzen. The eyes of the Konoha population turned towards the Uchiha.

"As my time as Hokage ends, I pass on the hat and the authority to the new generation. I trust that Konoha will prosper and grow under a new Hokage." Hiruzen declared as he held out the hat to Itachi. "I present to you your Godaime Hokage, Uchiha Itachi!"

Itachi took the hat from Hiruzen's hands and put it on his head. The reaction was instantaneous: the people of Konoha cheered loudly at the sight of the new Hokage.

'_It's happening…this really is happening…'_ Itachi let a sincere smile cross his lips as he turned his head towards different groups of people in the crowds below him.

The reign of the Godaime Hokage, Uchiha Itachi, has now begun!

* * *

The next day, a couple of civilian architects arrived at Hokage Mountain. They were tired and seemed red in the face due to activities from the previous day's celebration, but they were all excited for the day ahead.

"I don't think I partied that hard since the Yondaime's inauguration…damn, that's why I don't drink much anymore." One of the architects noted as he rubbed his head.

"Quit bitching. You got a hangover, just like everyone of age in the village. Big whoop." Another architect retorted, rolling his eyes.

The hungover architect glared in response. "I'm pretty sure mine's worse than most other people. Don't tell me it's not a big deal!"

"Guys, we can't be fighting now. We got a big day ahead of us." A third architect said with a large grin on his face. "Today's the day. We get to work on the head for Godaime-sama and add it to the mountain. We can't have any complainers or negative attitude! We need focus and we need determination!"

All civilian architects, including the two that were arguing, nodded in agreement. The group of architects, after hours of set-up and preparing equipment, reached the faces of the mountain to start construction of the Godaime's face. Just as they arrived and were at the space reserved for the Godaime, they noticed something…

"Hey boss! Someone's covered the entire area here with paint!" One of the architects exclaimed.

The lead architect, the one who rallied his follow workers, rushed over and saw the area for the Godaime's face. It was, indeed, covered in paint. The paint was still slightly wet and depicted a very crude depiction of Itachi's face. Underneath it was written a small phrase: "All hail the Godaime, but just you wait for the Rokudaime! He'll be twice as cool!"

The architect, who had been preaching about positive attitudes, couldn't help but glow red in anger. He had a hunch at the culprit and couldn't help but shout aloud his suspicions. "NARUTO!"

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was, indeed, the culprit. After being notified about his painting, a group of chūnin and jōnin were sent out to capture blonde and bring him to the Hokage to be reprimanded. It took them two hours before they were finally able to trap the academy student and bring him back to the Hokage's office.

'_Heh, it keeps taking them longer and longer to catch me! Am I getting better at this stuff or what?'_ Naruto chuckled to himself.

The blonde was nearly tossed into the Hokage's office by the jōnin that had captured him. Naruto brushed off some dirt on his clothes before coming face-to-face with Itachi.

"Er…" The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Hey…uh…Godaime-sama?"

"…" Itachi sighed in response at seeing the boy's awkward response. "Hello Naruto. Have a seat."

Naruto sat down in a chair in front of Itachi's desk. The boy had a slight nervous look on his face.

"I'm not in trouble, am I? The old man would never punish me too hard for doing anything! He would just tell me to not do it again!" Naruto explained, still rubbing the back of his head.

'…_he'd tell you not to do it again, but you would anyway.'_ Itachi noted, resisting the urge to chuckle.

"I'm not going to punish you Naruto." The newly-appointed Godaime stated.

The Uzumaki immediately sighed in relief. A grin quickly came over his face. "So, then, did you like my paint job? I felt like I captured the real you!"

Itachi actually let a frown come over his face. "You messed up my face."

"What?" Naruto blinked in surprise before shaking his head. "No way! I made sure to study you yesterday dattebayo! There's no way I did!"

"I saw the painting on the mountain. My eyes aren't that narrow, and I don't look that unhappy." Itachi noted.

"It's not unhappy! You look serious! Like…" Naruto closed his eyes, trying to come up with the right wording. "…like you have to fart, but are trying really, really hard to not let it out!"

Itachi immediately face-palmed, unable to resist the urge. _'…of all the ways to say that…he reminds me way too much of Shisui…'_

"Uh, Godaime-sama…are you okay?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"…I'm fine. Just don't refer to my face like that again please." He requested.

"Sure…whatever." The Uzumaki shrugged in response.

The Uchiha then realized something he wanted to talk to Naruto and changed topics to it. "Naruto, if you don't mind me asking, how are you able to avoid the shinobi for so long?"

"…huh?" Naruto blinked in response.

"I sent both chūnin and jōnin out to bring you here and you avoided them for two hours. How were you able to do that?" Itachi elaborated.

"Oh!" The blonde's eyes widened in realization. "Um…I don't know exactly. I've just been good at hiding and stuff, y'know? I've been practicing it and I'm quick! I'm just hard to catch!"

Itachi remained quiet for a few seconds, trying to understand the blonde's response. A few seconds passed before he spoke up.

"Naruto, from what I understand, you failed the graduation test to become a genin." The Uchiha noted.

Naruto's face immediately stiffened in response. "Hey, I didn't fail it!" He exclaimed defensively. "I was just trying to graduate two years early and they told me I couldn't…so what?"

"I was just trying to wonder how you wouldn't pass the graduation exam if you are able to avoid the pursuit of chūnin and jōnin shinobi." Itachi clarified. "Based on that alone, I feel you should be a genin at least!"

"…really?" Naruto's eyes widened in response at Itachi's praise.

The Uchiha Hokage nodded as he smiled in response. "Try taking the test again early next year. I'm pretty confident you should be able to pass it then."

Naruto's eyes actually started to water slightly. No one, under than the old man, Iruka, and the two workers at Ichiraku's seemed to have any faith in him. Here, the new Hokage was saying that he faith in him as well. The blonde couldn't help but smile in response.

"Heh…I like you Serious-sama!" He exclaimed.

"…'Serious-sama?'" Itachi repeated the phrase with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"Well that's what you are! You're the Godaime and you're always serious. You're Serious-sama!" The blonde explained with the same smile.

Itachi processed his newly-appointed title and the logic behind it and he laughed in response. _'Naruto, you remind me way too much of Shisui. The two of you need to meet at some point!'_

"Hey, hey! What's so funny?" Naruto questioned curiously.

"Heh…nothing, nothing. Just thinking." Itachi responded, his laughter dying down. "You're free to head out now Naruto. You're not in trouble: just try and not to do too many pranks. I'd rather not have to have you get dragged to my office every day."

Naruto nodded in response. He got up and was about to head on out the door when he heard his stomach growl loudly. A sheepish looked appeared on his face, which was then followed by a pleading look.

"Um…Serious-sama…the old man would sometimes take me out for ramen at Ichiraku's…would you want to come with me?" He asked.

Itachi closed his eyes in thought as he tried to remember if he had any appointments for the day. A second passed before he realized that he was, indeed, free. "Sure, I wouldn't mind."

A grin developed on Naruto's face as the blonde rushed over and pulled the Godaime out of his desk. The two then left the mansion and headed off to go get dinner together at Ichiraku's.

Naruto and Itachi had just created a bond between a future shinobi and his Hokage: a bond that would change their lives forever.

* * *

**Omake: Itachi's 'Training'**

A day had passed since Hiruzen publically declared Itachi as his successor. Both Hiruzen and Itachi knew that the Uchiha, despite being a prodigy, was not prepared to claim the title of Hokage. The Sandaime would need to train his successor…

The two men met each other in the Hokage's office to begin this training.

"Itachi, it is probably going to be at least a year or two before I feel you are ready to take the hat and my title as Hokage. There are lot of things that you need to know and be capable of before I feel comfortable with you being the Godaime." Hiruzen explained. "You are going to have to become aware of many S-Ranked secrets of Konoha. You're going to have to improve on your understanding of politics and figure out diplomatic responses to foreign and local leaders. You're going to have to become aware of every aspect of this village. And you are going to have to improve on your individual skills. You are indeed talented and are one of the greatest shinobi your generation has improved, but you are going to need to be constantly improving. You need to be ready to face any danger and threat to Konoha that could come at any given moment."

"I understand Hokage-sama." Itachi responded immediately.

"Hiruzen, just call me Hiruzen Itachi." Hiruzen chided before continuing. "Regardless, we have a lot to cover during these 'training' sessions. And I figured the first day of training should be focused on the most difficult aspect of being Hokage!"

Itachi nodded again in understanding. "What do you wish me to work on?"

The Sandaime gestured to his desk. "Have a seat there Itachi."

The Uchiha nodded in response and took a seat at the Hokage's desk. Hiruzen proceeded to pull out a stack of papers from seemingly nowhere and slammed them on the desk.

"…Hokage-sa...er….Hiruzen?" Itachi gave the man a strange look.

"This, is just a sample of the paperwork you must complete as Hokage." Hiruzen said. "Each paper must be studied, read carefully, and then responded to appropriately. You need to be careful. Occasionally, the civilian council will send a paper with a rather idiotic request. You want to make sure you don't accidentally pass a stupid law or something."

"…" Itachi turned his head in confusion.

"I am going to leave you with the paperwork, Itachi. I'll be back in about an hour or so to your progress. Good luck!" Hiruzen said politely before he left the room.

Itachi blinked in response before he turned his attention to the piles of paperwork. "This…is the hardest part of the job?"

The Uchiha prodigy pulled out a piece of paper from the pile and started to study it. "…well, I guess I should start. How hard can this be?"

* * *

An hour had passed when Hiruzen returned to the office. When he came into the room, he saw Itachi was studying a sheet of paper with near-bloodshot eyes. Approximately ninety percent of the paperwork he had started with was completed and filed to the side of the desk accordingly.

"Ah, Itachi, how are you doing?" The Sandaime asked cheerfully.

Itachi gave no response. The boy continued to focus on the paper. He soon slammed the paper down on the Hokage's desk, signed it, put it with the piles of completed papers, and then pulled out another sheet.

"You look…stressed." Hiruzen noted.

"…you think?" Itachi finally commented as he continued to focus on his next paper.

A devious smirk developed on the older man's face. "It would be a shame if, well, there was more paperwork that was needed to be done."

Itachi turned away from his paper and stared at the Sandaime in surprise. The Hokage was, indeed, holding another giant stack of paperwork.

"…please…lord of God no…" The Uchiha begged.

"Oh, but you must! It is the duty of the Hokage." Hiruzen chuckled as he placed the new pile of paperwork on the desk.

Seeing the new stacks of paper that needed to be completed, Uchiha Itachi fell backwards in his chair and promptly passed out. Hiruzen started to laugh loudly in response.

"Well, I must say, he responded better than Minato did when he got assigned his first batch of paperwork!" The Sandaime reminisced. "Thankfully, another soul knows the agonizing feeling of paperwork!"

With that thought, Hiruzen left the room to get some tea to pass the time while Itachi was unconscious. The aged shinobi was daydreaming about a life without paperwork and was actually looking forward to the day when Itachi succeeded him and he could finally leave the accursed paperwork behind.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So there we have it: chapter two is complete!

Quick note that I think I should've touched on earlier: the first chapter occurred literally days before the incident with Uchiha Shisui, meaning that yes, he is alive. I know you all could tell that through reading this chapter, but just explaining. Shisui is indeed alive, and he will have a major role in the story's future...

I was really surprised with all the quick and positive reviews and support the story received! Thank you all so much! :) I hope to continue and keep writing a story that pleases you all!

Starting from here on, the story chapters will be getting a bit longer. Just giving that heads up!

So yeah...don't have much else to say now. I will try and update as soon as possible! I'll also have an update for my other story around the same time, if not a little earlier. So yeah, make sure to review and let me know what you liked/didn't like. Any critiques will only help the story improve for you all! I'll see you all at the next chapter! Until then :)


	3. A Year Early

**Disclaimer: **I am the proud owner of nothing! Here that everyone? Nothing! I own it! Not Naruto, not One Piece, not Fairy Tale, not Fullmetal Alchemist...nothing! :D ...this revelation hurt me.

**Author's Note:** And here is chapter three guys! :) Not going to bother you all for too long. Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

**One year later…**

"Alright class, we are going to spend the rest of the day working on the Transformation Jutsu. Sarutobi-sama is here to observe and help anyone that needs it." Iruka announced to the class.

Sarutobi Hiruzen chuckled to himself as he walked into the classroom. "You can just call me Hiruzen, Iruka. I thought I explained this to you a long time ago."

"Good morning Hiruzen-sensei!" The academy students said in near-unison as they stood up and bowed to the older man.

"Good morning!" The former Hokage bowed back before turning his head towards Iruka with a smile on his face. "As you can see, the students are able to call me by my real name."

"What can I say, old habits die hard. You're still the Sandaime to me." Iruka answered with a laugh as he rubbed the back of his head.

Hiruzen laughed again as well. Iruka proceeded to call up the students to present their Transformation Jutsu. It was time to see how much they had understood the basics of the jutsu.

Ever since stepping down as Hokage, Hiruzen had focused most of his free time working at the Konoha Ninja Academy with the students. He worked with all grades and ages and tried to provide insight and 'the proper push' to help the students become the best shinobi they could be. After the first week that he was involved, he was starting to question the quality of the teaching at the academy and he feared slightly for the future of Konoha's shinobi.

A year later, and after a few revisions to the academy curriculum that he had pushed for, Hiruzen felt that the academy was training the students properly. His fears were put to rest in his mind: the next generation of Konoha shinobi was going to, in his mind, surpass the previous generations.

One-by-one, the academy students came up and presented the Transformation Jutsu. All of them were able to create a good transformation of a person of their choice. Considering their skill level of the average academy student, the former Hokage and Iruka were greatly impressed!

The transformation practice-session continued along as more students showed off their transformations. Soon, it became the turn of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Naruto, do your best transformation jutsu." Iruka requested as he wrote information about the other students' transformation on a piece of paper.

"Heh, I can do that!" Naruto smirked as he made a hand sign. "Transform!"

'_Oh boy…'_ Hiruzen had an idea what was going to happen. The older man closed his eyes.

Iruka and the rest of the academy students kept their eyes open to witness Naruto's 'transformation'. Naruto had transformed into a blonde woman around the age of eighteen. The woman was completely naked, with a few smoke clouds floating in the air around her covering 'specific parts' on her body. The woman was posing in a very provocative manner to her teacher.

"Do you like my jutsu Iruka-sensei?" 'She' asked.

"NARUTO, YOU'RE DISGUSTING!" Sakura growled from her place with the other students.

"YOU PERVERT!" Ino shrieked. "I SHOULD KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

Iruka rubbed away the small trace of blood from his nose before any of his students noticed it. He then glared at 'the woman' in front of him and smacked 'her' on the way. 'She' yelped in pain, which caused Naruto to drop his transformation.

"Naruto, take this seriously!" Iruka shouted.

"What's the big deal? You asked for a transformation and I gave you one." The blonde asked as he rolled his eyes. He rubbed the top of his head, which was hurting slightly from Iruka's 'attack.'

Hiruzen opened his eyes and sighed as he stared at Naruto.

"Naruto-kun, Iruka and I just want to see your skills with the jutsu. We don't want to see any jokes or pranks. We want to see exactly what Uzumaki Naruto can do." The former Hokage stated as he smiled at the boy, like a grandfather would smile at his grandson. "Can you do the jutsu one more time and do a legitimate transformation please?"

Naruto stared at Hiruzen for a few seconds before he sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll do it."

'_How does he do it?'_ Iruka wondered as he watched Naruto make a hand sign. Ever since the former Sandaime started to show up at the academy, he noticed that Naruto had been improving in his skills. The boy paid more attention to class and put more effort in his work whenever Hiruzen was there. All it took was a smile and a few words from the older man and Naruto would sigh and do what he was told. _'I guess he just doesn't want to disappoint Sarutobi-sama…'_

"Transform!"

Naruto disappeared in another poof of smoke. In his place was the splitting image of Umino Iruka. The academy instructor, as well as the former Hokage, looked at the transformation in shock.

"…you even got my scar down perfectly…" Iruka noted before he gave the boy a thumbs up. "Very well done Naruto!"

"Very good job indeed." Hiruzen nodded in agreement before smiling again.

Naruto dropped his transformation and walked back to his seat with a grin on his face.

Class continued as Iruka and Hiruzen witnessed the transformations of the remaining few students. After the demonstrations, Iruka gave them a lecture to further explain the technique and help them improve on it.

Naruto yawned and looked as if he was going to fall asleep during Iruka's lecture. Hiruzen gave the blonde a pointed look. The Uzumaki, after seeing Hiruzen's look, shook his head in frustration before paying closer attention to Iruka.

The exchange between the academy student and the former Hokage was quick and subtle, but Iruka noticed it. This caused the academy instructor to frown internally.

_'Seriously...how does he do it? What about Sarutobi-sama causes Naruto to pay attention?'_ Iruka wondered to himself.

He tried to ignore his questions and any thoughts of self-doubt about his teaching abilities. He, instead, focused on the lesson he was giving to his class.

* * *

Uchiha Itachi sat at his desk in the Hokage's office. The young man was reading a mission report for a B-ranked mission he had assigned to a team of chūnin.

At first, like his predecessors, the Godaime hated the very idea of paperwork. After doing it for a year straight, however, Itachi became accustomed to it and was able to do it rather quickly. He soon found it to be enjoyable at times. He usually did his paperwork alone, when it was quiet. He was able to simply enjoy the silence and be at peace.

Itachi was about to finish the mission report when the door to his office was slammed open. The loud noise caused him to drop the paper in surprise and nearly had him fall out of his chair.

"Hey Itachi! Itachi!"

The Uchiha picked up the mission report from the ground and looked up to see his best friend, Uchiha Shisui, standing in the room. The Uchiha jōnin was holding a scroll and a mission report in his hand.

"Shisui, we've gone over this multiple times. Knock next time." Itachi requested with a heavy sigh.

"Itachi, we've known each other for years now. When do I ever knock?" Shisui rolled his eyes.

The Godaime Hokage shook his head in response. "I swear, I have no idea how you are older than me. You're twenty-one years old and you act like a twelve-year old genin."

"And I have no idea how you are so young. You act like what I expect the Sandaime or one of his teammates will act like ten years from now!" The jōnin responded.

"One of us has to be the mature one." Itachi stated as he rolled his eyes.

"And thank God it is you! I'd hate to be all stiff and serious all the time. Way too boring!" Shisui exclaimed.

The two Uchiha stared at each for a few seconds before Shisui burst into laughter. Itachi chuckled as well, but he was not nearly as loud as his friend.

"It's been a while. How was your last mission?" Itachi asked.

"Completed of course!" Shisui responded with a smirk as he tossed the mission report in his hand to the Hokage. "No injuries or anything either."

"No injuries or problems at all? On an A-rank mission? Impressive work." Itachi complimented as he caught the mission report.

"Eh, I'll take the compliment, but it's kinda undeserved. That mission was an A-rank just because the client was super rich and therefore had the extra money to spend." Shisui said as he rolled his eyes. "No fun at all. One guy tried to rob us and I showed him why that was a dumb thing to do and he ran away. That was all the action on the mission!"

"Were you looking for some excitement or something?" The Godaime asked as he moved the new mission report to his pile of paperwork that still needed to be completed.

"…eh, kinda actually. I don't know." The jōnin shrugged in response with a sigh. "I'm glad everything's kinda peaceful right now in the village. You know me better than most people: I'm really, really happy everything has been peaceful! But I don't know, I just feel like I'm not doing anything worthwhile right now. I feel like I'm just sitting on my ass and doing lame missions you could assign to a frickin genin team and not doing something that could actually help the village, y'know?"

"I've been giving you high-ranked missions. It's just been bad luck you've been getting 'easy' missions as you see it. Then again, most people would consider that lucky. You're just unusual." Itachi noted.

"And damn proud of it!" Shisui exclaimed, crossing his arms.

Itachi smiled, but he was also a little upset that his friend was frustrated. Shisui, despite his 'eccentric' personality, cared about the village greatly and always wanted to do whatever he could for the village. Itachi was troubled that his friend felt as if he wasn't doing anything worthwhile for Konoha…

'…_hmm!'_ Itachi's eyes widened as he thought of something. _'…if you want something worthwhile, I'll have something for you to do.'_

"…hey Itachi! You there?" Shisui questioned, waving his hand in front of the Hokage's face.

"Oh. Sorry." The Godaime apologized. "I zoned out thinking of something."

"Understandable. You got a lot of things to do, Mr. Godaime." Shisui snickered as he started to walk to the door. "Don't want to be a bother for too long. I'll just leave you be for now and come harass…I mean visit you later when you have some time to kill."

Itachi chuckled. "See you later Shisui."

His best friend waved goodbye before leaving the room. Itachi then turned back to his paperwork, continuing with the mission report he was looking over before his friend came in.

'_You may hate me for it, but I'll have something for you to do that's worthwhile to Konoha.'_ Itachi noted in his head, thinking about his friend. His eyes then narrowed on the mission report. _'Now…where was I in this?'_

* * *

"Class dismissed!" Iruka said to his students.

The academy students gathered their things and rushed out of the building, heading off to their homes. After his students left, Iruka started to gather his things and head back to his apartment. Just as he started to leave, he was stopped by Hiruzen.

"Iruka, may I have a moment of your time." He requested.

The academy instructor nodded in response and stopped walking. He turned to face the older man.

"How can help I you Saru-I mean Hiruzen?" Iruka asked, changing the name of the man in front to his preferred name.

"Now was that so hard?" Hiruzen asked with a chuckle.

"Again, old habits are hard to kill. You've been the Hokage for as long as I can remember. It's just hard sometimes." Iruka said with a laugh of his own. "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"I was going to ask about the upcoming graduation exam in two days and the requirements to graduate." Hiruzen noted.

"We aren't changing them." Iruka answered. "It's the same as they've always been. A written test about the history and concepts of being a shinobi that they need to know, then a test on their weapons skills, and then a demonstration of the academy basic jutsu."

"I realize that. I think the requirements are a good standard!" Hiruzen stated, but a slight frown was evident on his face. "However, I've been observing the students that are going to take the exam and I've noticed two students who I worry whether or not they are applicable to the standards of the test."

Iruka's eyes widened, realizing what the former Hokage was talking about.

"If you are referring to Rock Lee, we are aware of his condition. We are taking into consideration his condition and seeing how well he does in the other categories." The instructor stated with a smile. "I really believe Lee can be one of the best shinobi we've ever had."

"I agree, and Lee was one of my main worries." Hiruzen said, a smile on his face as well.

Iruka then realized that Hiruzen also mentioned another student. "Wait, who else are you concerned about."

"Naruto." The former Hokage answered.

"Naruto?" Iruka asked in confusion.

"You talk with the boy all the time Iruka! Surely you knew he was taking the exam to try and graduate early again." Hiruzen said with a laugh.

"I did, but I didn't think he needed to be put under different standards to graduate." The academy instructor responded, still confused. "Why are you concerned? He's trying to graduate early: if he fails, then he takes the exam again next year and graduate when he is supposed to. He's not technically expected to be at the skill-level of students a whole year ahead of him."

"I realize that. However, that's not what I am concerned about with him." The older shinobi answered.

"…what are you concerned about then?" Iruka questioned.

"You have noticed that Naruto has improved greatly this past year in his grades and his ability to use the basic jutsus with the exception of the Clone Jutsu, correct?" Hiruzen questioned. When the chūnin nodded, he continued. "I've been working with him, as well with the other students. Naruto really has improved greatly in every aspect and is willing to apply himself and learn. However, no matter how much he tries, he can never perform the Clone Jutsu. No matter how much you or I or anyone explains the concepts involved in the jutsu, he cannot use it."

"I believe Naruto's…condition prevents him from using the little amount of chakra needed for the jutsu." Hiruzen stated.

The academy instructor's eyes widened at the realization. "The fox…?"

Hiruzen nodded. "He has a lot of chakra. Too much chakra to be able to concentrate such a little amount and use the Clone Jutsu." He noted. "Therefore, when he takes his exam, I feel as if he should be judged on his other abilities. He should not be denied his graduation because he has too much chakra."

Iruka remained quiet as he thought about this information. He had never considered this before…and that was bothering him greatly.

"I'm not saying to pass the boy. Believe me; if he doesn't deserve promotion, then he should not be promoted. I do think, though, he shouldn't be punished and help back a year simply because he has too much chakra." Hiruzen clarified what he was saying.

"…I'll bring this up with the other instructors." Iruka said quietly as he looked downward to the ground. "…I can't believe I never noticed that before. If I did, I could've helped him better a long time ago…"

"Sometimes we miss things, Iruka." The former Hokage said sadly as he placed his hand on Iruka's shoulder. "…to be honest, I've noticed a few things this past year that I had been ignorant about too. Many of them are related to Naruto, actually." Hiruzen openly frowned at this. He did not realize the full extent of Naruto's potential, not did he know just how lonely the boy was even though he was surrounded by children his age, people ignorant of Naruto's 'condition' that he thought Naruto could befriend. "And it bothers me greatly that I had been unaware of things before, but there's nothing you can do about the past. What you can do, however, is know these things for the future. That way, you can act on them and also be more aware of things."

"…you're right." Iruka looked back up at Hiruzen and gave him a smile. "Thanks. For coming to the academy and helping Naruto and the other kids."

"It's the least I can do Iruka. Thank you for letting me come into your classes." Hiruzen replied with a similar smile. He then heard a noise come from the academy instructor's stomach, which caused him to laugh out loud as the chūnin turned red in embarrassment. "Would you like to go get something to eat with me Iruka?"

Despite his embarrassment, Iruka smiled as he nodded in affirmation.

* * *

Two days had passed and it was time for the graduation exam. The class scheduled to graduate walked into the academy and took their seats while waiting to receive their tests. In addition to them, there were a couple of students attempting to graduate early.

'_Today's the day…'_ Naruto told himself as he walked in. _'This isn't like last time. I am going to pass dattebayo!'_

The Uzumaki walked in and looked for a seat to sit in the room. As he scanned the room for one, he found an open seat in the corner of the room. To his surprise, though, he recognized the girl sitting in the seat next to it. She was a girl with short, indigo hair and was wearing a cream-colored jacket and navy blue pants. Naruto rushed over to her and took the chair next to her.

"Hinata?" The blonde called out her name.

The girl gasped as she turned to face the blonde. She was distracted with her thoughts and didn't even notice him there. Now, seeing the blonde, her cheeks started to redden.

"N-Naruto-kun…y-you are t-taking the graduation exam early?" She asked in surprise.

"Hell yeah! I'm gonna be Hokage, so I need to get out of the academy as fast as I can to train properly dattebayo!" Naruto declared confidently. "What about you? I didn't know you were going to try and graduate early."

"I d-didn't p-plan on it at f-first. But my f-father and s-some of the elders in m-my clan wanted me to graduate early when th-they heard that S-Sasuke-san was going t-to graduate early." The Hyūga answered quietly as she pressed her index fingers together.

"Sasuke?" Naruto started to scan the crowd of students looking for the Uchiha. It took him a few seconds, but he found him sitting on the opposite side of the room. He had his head lying on the desk. "I forgot he was trying to graduate early! He was talking about that a little bit ago! Something about not wanting to fall behind his brother or something?"

Hinata nodded slowly. "H-His father has been t-talking about him and the H-Hokage for a while. S-So my f-father wants m-me to become genin s-so our clan d-doesn't seem weaker th-than the Uchiha clan…"

"Ah, I see!" Naruto's eyes widened. "It's all about a bunch of political crap!"

Hinata giggled at Naruto's blunt manner of speaking. "P-Pretty much…"

The doors opened to the classroom again. Iruka entered the room and he was followed by a few other academy instructors. They were all holding different papers in their hands.

"Well, I guess we're starting this." Naruto realized as he gave the girl a thumbs up. "Good luck Hinata!"

The shy Hyūga blushed in response. "Y-You as well…"

* * *

'_Oh boy…here it comes…'_ Naruto gulped.

The blonde managed to take the written test. He felt half-way decently about it. He also felt confident in his performance during the weapons-portion of the exam. Now, however, was the part he was worried about: the academy 'basic' jutsus.

Naruto was not worried about his substitution or transformation. What he was concerned about was the Clone Jutsu. He knew that it was his weakest aspect and he also knew that even when he tried his hardest, he could never create a single clone.

'_Whatever, today I'll make a good clone! I'm graduating today dammit!'_ He told himself.

One-by-one, the students in the room went to the back to get tested on their jutsus. Naruto waited impatiently as he waited for his time. Nearly an hour passed before he saw one of the academy instructors, a tall man that he didn't recognize, come out and call his name.

"Showtime…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he got up from his seat.

The blonde followed the instructor to a large, open room. Iruka was there, along with the other academy instructors. Each of them were staring at him intently.

"Uzumaki Naruto, we will begin the third portion of the graduation exam. You will be tested on the academy basic jutsus." The tall instructor stated. "The first jutsu you will be tested on is the Substitution Jutsu."

He pointed to a pile of logs in the corner of the room. "Please replace yourself with one of the logs over there."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He performed a set of hand signs before activating the jutsu. In a second, the boy disappeared and was replaced with one of the logs. Naruto was now sitting in the corner on top of another log.

"Okay." Another instructor, a woman with blonde hair, noted. "Now, we will test you on the Substitution Jutsu. Uzumaki Naruto, please transform into any of the instructors here in this room."

Naruto nodded as he walked back to the center of the room. He made a hand sign and disappeared into a poof of smoke. The smoke cleared and he had transformed into a near-perfect copy of Iruka.

"…he even got your scar right Iruka-san!" The blonde-haired woman noted as she studied the boy's transformation.

"No one ever does. I don't know what's so difficult about it." Iruka chuckled as he stared at the boy with pride. "Good job Naruto!"

The blonde dropped the transformation and returned the smile with one of his own. Now, it was time for the part he was worried about: the clone jutsu.

The academy instructors started to discuss quietly amongst each other, confusing Naruto. The blonde was anxious about the clone jutsu and wanted to get it out of the way. He didn't want to wait too long…

A minute passed before the instructors stopped talking to each other. Iruka looked at the boy with a large smile on his face.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto. You are now an official genin of Konohagakure!" The scarred-chūnin declared as he held out a Konoha forehead protector to the blonde boy.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. He blinked multiple times before he spoke up.

"…is that it? L-Like…you don't want me to do the Clone Jutsu?" He asked hesitantly.

"It was brought to our attention that you may be incapable of ever using the Clone Jutsu due to the shear amount of chakra you possess. Therefore, we were testing you solely on your other abilities taking into account that you can't create clones." The blonde-instructor explained. She had a surprised look on her face. "Are you surprised or nervous or something? Do you not want to be a genin?"

"NO! I do!" Naruto shook his head in response. His confusion went away and the blonde was now smiling. His smile was the most sincere-one he had ever had on his face. His eyes were also tearing up slightly. "Thank you all so much! I promise you won't regret this!"

The blonde took his forehead protector and bowed to the academy instructors. He then left the classroom with a smile that was seemingly never going to disappear.

"I'm a genin! I'm a genin! I'm a genin!" Naruto repeated the same phrase over-and-over as he walked down the streets of Konoha to his apartment.

He was finally on the path to achieving his goal and becoming Hokage.

* * *

"Here are the list of the academy graduates Hokage-sama." Umino Iruka stated as he handed a file to the Godaime.

"Thank you Iruka. You are dismissed." Itachi said as he took the file.

Iruka bowed before leaving the Hokage's office. Itachi, now alone, opened the file and started to look at the names of those that passed.

The first name that stuck out to him was his brother's name. Itachi smiled when he saw the Sasuke had graduated. He knew from observing his little brother the past year that Sasuke was getting stressed a lot more and was focusing more and more on his training. He also knew the boy was not getting much sleep. Seeing him become genin early would hopefully show Sasuke that his training was improving his skills and help him calm down.

After seeing Sasuke's name, the Hokage then looked at the rest of the list. He recognized most of the students' names, as he was trying to make a conscious effort to remember the name and face of all of the villagers. However, only a few of the names on the list seemed to stick out to Itachi as potential shinobi.

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle when he got to the end of the list and noticed the name 'Uzumaki Naruto'. The Uchiha had become acquainted with the blonde boy decently, as the boy was sent to his office bi-weekly by shinobi for pulling some sort of prank on Konoha. While Itachi wouldn't consider himself particularly close to the blonde, he did enjoy his company and was happy to see that he became a genin as he wished.

'_Now to design the genin teams…'_ Itachi told himself as he looked at the names.

He pulled up another file that he had put aside: a list of all the available jōnin that could take on a genin team. He put the list side-by-side against the list of the academy graduates and started to think about possible, effective genin teams.

* * *

A week had passed since the graduation exam. Uzumaki Naruto walked into the academy with a large grin on his face. The blonde was wearing the Konoha forehead protector on his forehead proudly.

As the blonde entered the designated classroom, he started to look for an open seat. He saw one next to a familiar black-haired classmate of his that his head lying on the desk. The blonde rushed over and took the spot.

"Hey Sasuke." He greeted the classmate.

Sasuke lifted his head and faced Naruto. The boy had black lines under his eye.

"Morning Naruto. I see you passed the exam as well." Sasuke noted with a smile on his face.

"Of course I did! And I see you did as well." Naruto stated as he pointed to Sasuke's forehead protector.

"Mhmm." The Uchiha said with a yawn. "Now the goal is to get to chūnin in a year or two."

"Heh, I bet I can get to chūnin before you can!" The Uzumaki declared.

The black-haired boy raised his eyebrows in a taunting fashion. "You sure about that?"

"I am!" Naruto exclaimed. He put his hand to his head in a thinking gesture before he snapped his finger, coming up with an idea. "How about this? Whoever becomes chūnin first wins. The loser has to buy the winner dinner!"

"Deal!" Sasuke nodded in understanding as he held out his hand. "Just so you know, I don't lose."

"Likewise." Naruto stated as he shook the Uchiha's hand.

After making the bet, Sasuke yawned before he laid his head back down on his desk. Naruto laughed slightly. The Uchiha boy was different than what he had expected him to be. When Naruto had first met him in the academy, Naruto thought he was going to be arrogant due to all the praise he was getting for being an Uchiha and 'a prodigy'. Naruto soon realized after a few conversations with him that Sasuke was anything but arrogant. Competitive, yes, but not arrogant. He was just a quiet boy who seemed to have some interest in mischief. The few times he talked to Sasuke, Naruto always had fun.

With Sasuke trying to sleep, though, Naruto sat down at his chair quietly while waiting to hear about what was going to happen now that he was a genin.

A few minutes passed by and more students entered the room. Iruka then finally entered the room, holding a list of names. He stood at a podium in the front of the room, stared at all of the students, and started to smile.

"From this day forward, you are all genin of Konoha. As one of your academy teachers, I just want to let you all know how proud I am of you." Iruka told the class with a smile on his face. "You've all done excellent in your studies and training. I believe with all my heart that this may be one of the finest classes Konoha has ever produced, and I can't wait to see what extraordinary shinobi you all become!"

Many of the academy-graduates were beaming at the praise. Naruto, himself, had a large smile on his face.

"Now, I'm going to not waste any time for you all. As you all know, you are all going to be placed into teams of three under one jōnin sensei. I'm going to read the names of the teams. Pay attention carefully, because I will _not _repeat myself!" Iruka declared as he pulled the list close to his face. "Now…team one…"

Naruto tried his best to pay attention to the members of the teams, but he failed. Considering he had graduated a year early, he had no idea who the members of the graduating class were. Therefore, he didn't really care which person was in which team. He just kept his ears focused, waiting for his name.

"Team five," Iruka stared as he started to read a new set of names, "Uzumaki Naruto, Tenten, and Hyūga Neji."

'_That's me!'_ Naruto exclaimed excitedly as he started to look around the classroom for his teammates.

In the front of the room, Naruto noticed a kunoichi with brown hair styled into buns on the top of her head. She was wearing a pink sleeveless blouse and green pants. Naruto noticed the girl seemed to have a smile on her face after hearing the names in the team, so he assumed that she was 'Tenten'.

The Uzumaki looked around the classroom, but he saw no one else had a reaction. Whoever 'Hyūga Neji' was, he had no reaction whatsoever to hearing his name called. The blonde shrugged. _'Whatever. I'll meet him in a little bit.'_

Iruka continued reading more teams. Naruto didn't seem to pay attention until Iruka got to the end of his list. "Team Nine: Rock Lee, Hyūga Hinata, and Uchiha Sasuke."

'_Hinata did pass!'_ Naruto's eyes moved back to the room. In the far-most corner at the top of the classroom, he noticed Hinata there. _'Guess she and Sasuke are going to be on the same team. At least they have someone they know!'_ Naruto's eyes widened as he then realized something. _'Wait a second…her last name is the same as my teammate's. Is she related to him or something?'_

Iruka read off one more team before putting the list down. "Those are your teams. You will now have an hour break to go get lunch. Report back here in an hour to meet your jōnin sensei. You are all dismissed!"

The academy-graduates stood up in their chairs and walked out with friends and/or their teammates to go eat together. Naruto got up from his chair and stretched before he looked around the classroom.

"Alright, time to go find my teammates! Where's…" Naruto mumbled to himself as he turned in the direction of where he thought 'Tenten' was. When he turned in the direction, he saw she was no longer there. She had already left the room. "…huh…"

Naruto walked out of the building and started to look amongst the newly-made genin for Tenten. He did not see her. The boy also tried to find his other teammate, but considering he had know idea what Neji looked like, he couldn't find the boy.

'…_fine. Guess I'm eating lunch by myself.'_ Naruto said with a sigh.

The Uzumaki walked off alone as he went to go get himself food.

* * *

'_This sucks…I didn't even get to have a good lunch.'_ Naruto whined as he rubbed his stomach. _'There's no good place near the academy!'_

The Uzumaki walked back into the classroom an hour after being dismissed. The boy was irritated. He scanned the room for his teammates upon entering. He then spot the same girl with brown hair styled into buns. Naruto immediately rushed over to her.

"Hey! Are you Tenten?" He questioned.

"…yes. And you are?" The girl answered while studying him.

"I was looking for you after Iruka-sensei dismissed us! I'm Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto greeted.

"Oh! You're the kid in my team that graduated early!" Tenten realized after hearing his response.

"Hey! I'm not a kid!" The Uzumaki responded loudly.

"You're younger than me, so you're a kid to me." Tenten declared with a playful smirk. She held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Naruto. Sorry for disappearing on you then. I had to go meet up with a friend really quick."

"That's no big deal. Nice to meet you too!" Naruto said as he shook her hand. "Now all I have to do is figure out who Neji is."

"You don't know Neji?" The girl questioned with a surprised look on her face.

"Um…no. Remember, not in your graduating class? I don't know a single person here except for the two other people who graduated early." Naruto answered with a shrug.

"Still, thought you would've known him. The academy instructor love to talk about Neji." Tenten rolled her eyes as she spoke.

The brown-haired girl pointed to a boy sitting a few tables behind them. He had black hair that he wore in a ponytail and white eyes. He wore a khaki-colored shirt and dark brown shorts. The boy was sitting quietly in his chair with a stern expression on his face.

"That's him." She answered.

"Hmm…" Naruto started to walk over in the direction of him. "I'll go say hi then."

To his surprise, Tenten grabbed him by the arm and pulled him backwards towards her and away from the boy. When the blonde looked at her surprise, he saw that she was shaking her head.

"Just wait until we meet up with our sensei. Neji's a jackass and you may want to put off knowing him for as long as you can." She explained.

"…how bad is he?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Major superiority complex and claims how it is 'fate' for him to be better than the others." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Seriously?"

"I'm kinda simplifying it, but yeah, pretty much."

"…shit, I guess we do have a major jackass on our team." Naruto sighed in annoyance.

"He is, but hey, at least he's a good ninja. That means he won't hold us back." Tenten offered before she started to study the blonde again. "So, what are you capable of Naruto? Anything interesting?"

"Me?" A grin appeared on his face. "Well, I'm good at-"

"Team five! Hey!"

Naruto and Tenten turned around to face the door to the room and stood. The boy identified as Neji stood up as well. Standing in the doorway was a young man with unkempt short black hair with the Konoha forehead protector underneath. He had on the standard Konoha jacket over a black shirt and wore black pants. He also had a sword attached to the back of his outfit. The man had a smirk on his face.

"So I take it you three are Naruto, Tenten, and Neji?" He asked. Seeing the three of them nod, he started to walk off. "The name's Uchiha Shisui and I'm gonna be your jōnin sensei. We got a few things to talk about, so I'd follow me if I were any of you!"

The three newly assigned members of Team Five hurried out of their seats to follow the man, Shisui, wherever he was going.

* * *

The three newly-appointed genin followed Shisui all the way to a playground outside of the academy. Not a single kid was there, so the playground was left for them alone.

"Dips on the swing!" Shisui shouted to the genin as he bolted forward.

Naruto and Tenten watched in surprise as the jōnin seemingly disappeared and reappeared above the swing on the playground. He got on the swing and started to swing immediately. Naruto and Tenten looked at the man in complete surprise while Neji looked on in indifference. The three of them made no move towards Shisui.

"Come on guys! Get over here!" The Uchiha shouted at them. "Take a seat on one of the other swings."

Neji shook his head as he walked forward. Naruto and Tenten followed. The Hyūga sat down on the ground. His two teammates sat down next to him. Naruto decided to take this moment to introduce himself to his teammate.

"Nice to meet you Neji. I'm Naruto!" The blonde said as he held out his hand.

"I know your name. Iruka said it after he announced the members of our team." Neji said sharply, not even looking at the blonde. "Don't get in my way and we'll get along fine Naruto."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto snapped at him.

"I also recognize your name from another source: you're the troublemaker that pranks the village for attention. You're considered a good-for-nothing loser with no real talent." The Hyūga shook his head. "Frankly, I do not know how you managed to become a shinobi, but who am I to question fate. Again, just don't get in my way."

The Uzumaki glared at the Hyūga. He was about to open his mouth to respond back, but he was interrupted by the jōnin.

"Hey, hey, no fighting. Not yet at least." Shisui shouted from the swing. "…come on, does no one want to swing with me? It's fun!"

The three academy-graduates stared at the jōnin in confusion. Another second passed before Shisui jumped off the swing and sat down in front them. He had a frown on his face.

"None of you are fun…" He sighed.

"We're just confused Shisui-sensei. I thought you wanted to talk to us about something about the team…not take us out to the playground." Tenten replied uneasily.

"…meh, fair point." Shisui sighed. "Well whatever, we can do the boring business stuff. So…can you all tell me about yourselves?"

"What do you want to know?" Naruto asked.

Shisui brought his hand to his face and rubbed a nonexistent beard thoughtfully. "…how about you all tell me your name, your interests, why you wanted to become a shinobi, and what your plan is for the future."

The jōnin then proceeded to point to the blonde. "Since you were the one to ask, how about you go first?"

"Um…okay! Sure!" Naruto said as he pointed his thumb at his chest. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, designing and performing pranks on people, and gardening. I've wanted to be a shinobi my whole life after hearing all sorts of stories about different shinobi and then decided I was going to do it when I met the old man Sandaime. My plan for the future is to become the best Hokage our village has had and earn the respect of all the villagers here!"

Neji shook his head in response. "The Hokage are chosen from the elite shinobi. A boy like you with no real talent will never become Hokage."

"And what do you know-" Naruto started.

"MOVING ALONG!" Shisui shouted loudly, causing Naruto to stop talking. The Uchiha turned to Neji. "You seem to have a lot to say. Wanna share about yourself?"

The boy shrugged in response. "I'm Hyūga Neji. I don't have anything I'm particularly interested in. I became a shinobi as it is part of my duty as a member of the…branch family…of the Hyūga clan." Neji's fist tightened in anger, but it eased up a second later. "I have no plans for the future. Fate will determine what will happen for me."

'…_what kind of answer is that? 'Fate will determine what will happen?' Bullshit!'_ Naruto rolled his eyes.

'_And they say the Uchiha can be assholes…actually, that is true.'_ Shisui corrected his thoughts before continuing. _'But seriously, that fate complex is going to get annoying. And it's going to hold him back in his missions and his teamwork. I'm going to have to find some way to beat it out of him fast.'_

"Last but not least?" Shisui then turned his attention to the sole girl on the team.

"My name's Tenten. No family name or anything." Tenten started her introduction. "I like practicing with different weapons, doing volunteer work at the Konoha Orphanage, fortunetelling, and reading. I wanted to become a shinobi growing up hearing stories about the shinobi in the orphanage in Konoha. I then wanted to become a shinobi to help out Konoha! And my plan for the future is to become a legendary kunoichi, like Tsunade of the Sannin!"

'_She's an orphan too?'_ Naruto realized after her introduction. He stared at his teammate with a new-found sense of understanding.

"Honorable. Very honorable." Shisui said with a nod.

"And you Sensei?" Naruto asked.

"…eh, why not?" The Uchiha shrugged in response before he stood up and clapped his hands together in a dramatic fashion. "I'm Uchiha Shisui! I like pulling pranks, just like Naruto here. I also like fireworks, parties, music, and excitement. I kinda just like having fun and always making sure I'm doing something!" The Uchiha's face then dropped as he became serious. "I was born during the Third Shinobi World War and my Mom died in combat against a squad of Kiri shinobi. That's what inspired me to become a shinobi. I don't want so see anyone close to me die again…I want to make sure I can be able to do something and protect the people I care about. That also ties into my plans for the future. I'm going to be here in Konoha and do my best to make sure the village stays peaceful and that everyone I care about can live a full life."

Naruto, Tenten, and even Neji were staring at the Uchiha in surprise after his reason for becoming a shinobi and his plans for the future. They had started to gain some respect for the man that was going to be their sensei.

A few seconds passed before Shisui's serious expression dropped and a playful look came over his face. "Oh, I guess another plan for the future is to love my virginity soon."

Immediately, that newfound respect disappeared.

"We did NOT need to know that Shisui-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed loudly.

"What?" Shisui blinked in confusion before a frown came over his face. "I'm over twenty and I still haven't lost it yet! No one's interested in me I guess. Is that not pathetic of me?"

"Pervert…" Tenten was glaring at the Uchiha.

"How does wanting to lose my virginity make me a pervert?" Shisui rolled his eyes. "It's not like I'm reading porn out in public!"

Hatake Kakashi was currently walking down the streets of Konoha reading an orange book when he sneezed.

"Hmm…wonder if anyone's thinking about me…" Kakashi wondered. Suddenly, a thought entered his head. "Oh yeah. Today's the day of the graduation from the academy. I guess I ought to pick up my students."

The man proceeded to walk to the academy, still reading his book.

"What kind of person reads porn in public for everyone to see? Some kind of super pervert?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"If you get far enough in your career, you'll meet him. He's actually a pretty cool guy, if you can look past a lot of his quirks." Shisui answered with a shrug.

"…" Neji shook his head in frustration. "How you and your 'friend' became jōnin, I have no idea."

"'Fate' has a funny sense of humor, doesn't it?" The Uchiha commented with a snicker.

Neji responded by glaring at the man.

"Well, now I know a little bit more about you and now you know more about me." Shisui declared.

"More than we'd like to know…" Naruto mumbled.

"Pervert…" Tenten added with a glare.

"Not a pervert!" Shisui rolled his eyes. "Anyway, back on topic! We've got to talk about the genin test you all have tomorrow!"

Tenten and Neji stopped glaring and gave the sensei a confused look.

"What do you mean 'genin test'? Didn't we just pass it?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"Oh yeah! I forgot they don't tell you about this in the academy." Shisui chuckled to himself. "Basically, the test you just took was a pre-test, if you want to call it that. You aren't officially genin yet. So tomorrow, the three of you are going to take a test that I will assign you all to make sure you are all ready to become genin. It's about…um…" The Uchiha stopped talking, as if he was thinking of something. A few seconds passed before he started to speak up. "I remember now! It's a sixty-six percent chance of failure."

Shisui's explanation of the 'genin test' and his nonchalant manner in explaining it surprised the academy-graduates. Neji's eyes were wide while Naruto and Tenten were both openly gaping at their sensei.

The Uchiha jōnin watched their reactions to his announcement and started to laugh loudly in response. _'Yep, this sensei thing actually is kinda fun. Hopefully they pass tomorrow!'_

* * *

**Author's Note: **And there is chapter three! :) I have a system with my writing now that I think really is helping me write a lot faster! I'm excited, as it means I'll be able to update more often for you guys! :)

I'm stunned by all the early support the story is getting! Thank you all so much for all the reviews! :) They all mean so much to me! I have a lot of plans for this story and I'm hoping that it continues to be original and interesting as I get further along with all my plans...

Just saying, this is about the average chapter-length of all my chapters. Maybe a little longer. It depends on all the plans I have for the chapter. But yeah, I had a few comments about people wanting for longer chapter-updates. Let me know if this is good a length for you. If otherwise...believe me, I can write more! Just let me know!

So yeah, thanks again for all the amazing support the story has already gotten! Let me know about what all of you like and dislike. Any comments and criticism will be noted and will help improve my writing for you all.

I'm off to work on the next chapter! It will be up when it is finished. Until then guys :)


	4. Becoming Genin

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. On a quick side-note, I just started watching Fairy Tale just last night and I really enjoyed it! :) So...if anyone wants to purchase the rights to it and give it to me, that'd be really nice. Oh, and the rights to Naruto. That would also be really, really nice...

**Author's Note:** Hi guys! Sorry this chapter is a tad later than I had originally wanted it to be. This past week has been pretty busy for me. Namely, my girlfriend just graduated and I applied for a job. In both circumstances, my girlfriend is now a high school graduate and we had a great party to celebrate, and I am now employed again! :P So yeah, busy-ish week for me! But now, I am here! I won't keep you from the story! Hope you all enjoy :)

* * *

Uchiha Shisui delivered the news about the 'true' genin exam to his students. He gave them information about the statistics and the location of his exam. After relaying all of the information and answering any questions, the jōnin dismissed his students. The three of them left to go prepare for their exam the next day. Once they had left, Shisui went on his way home as well. Unlike his students, however, he had plans to enjoy the night. He was going to go out partying with a few of his friends.

There was an an unofficial tradition between Shisui and his friends. When no one in their friend group was out of the village due to missions, they would all meet up at a bar and go drinking. Tonight was one of the nights where everyone was in the village, and Shisui was sure as hell not going to pass up a night of drinking!

The Uchiha left his apartment at around seven at night and arrived at the bar shortly after. At the door, he was greeted by a man in green spandex with a bowl haircut.

"Shisui-san, you are here at last!" The man stated excitably as he rushed over and placed his hand on the Uchiha's shoulder.

"Heh, what's up Gai?" Shisui asked with a chuckle. "Still waiting on Kakashi?"

The man, Gai, had a tendency where he waited for everyone to arrive at the bar before he sat down himself and had a drink. It was something Shisui respected, but it was not something he himself could ever do.

"No, Shisui-san, you were the last one to arrive. Kakashi has been here for a while." Gai pointed out as he started to walk away from the door and towards the bar chairs.

"Wait, hold on a second. _Kakashi_, of all people, beat me here?" Shisui asked with wide eyes before his face fell in mock-depression. "…well, if that doesn't make you feel bad, I don't know what will."

"Do not trouble yourself about your tardiness! I was previously with Kakashi and I simply dragged him over to the bar with me. I fear he, as 'hip' and 'cool' as he always is, would still be away if I wasn't with him to bring him here!" Gai replied with a loud, spirited laugh.

"Still, sorry for being the one to keep you away from everyone." The Uchiha still apologized.

The two men started to walk through the bar towards a few seats at the end. There, Shisui recognized everyone there: Mitarashi Anko, Gekkō Hayate, Sarutobi Asuma, and Hatake Kakashi.

"Look who's finally here?" Asuma noted with a smirk. He had a bottle of sake in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that." Shisui apologized again.

"Not like anyone but Gai was waiting on you." Anko responded as she held out a bottle of sake towards the Uchiha. "I covered your first one, cause I'm in a good mood. Now, let's get you wasted already!"

"You? In a good mood? Who did you kill?" The Uchiha snickered as he took a bottle of sake.

"Oh, just a little spy that we discovered about a week ago." The purple-haired woman answered.

A silence filled the air for a few seconds before Shisui spoke up. "Shit…I was just kidding. You actually did kill someone."

"This surprises you?" Asuma questioned. "This is Anko we are talking about!"

Anko actually laughed at that. She then started to speak about the reason for her 'good mood'. "We ended up catching a spy that was working for Orochimaru. Ibiki and I got him to squeal like a little runt and after that, I got permission from our good buddy Hokage-sama to off the son of a bitch myself!" The purple-haired woman stopped talking to take a drink from her own sake bottle before continuing. "But yeah, any information on that snake bastard and possibly catching him will make me happy! So, enjoy the sake."

"I will. And I'll drink to that!" Shisui stated as he raised his bottle.

"Likewise!" Asuma added, raising his own.

"I will as well!" Gai exclaimed.

Hayate chuckled to himself before raising his own bottle of sake, giving his agreement.

Kakashi raised his thumb in agreement. The man did not have a bottle of sake, as he was not much a drinker. Honestly, he only went to these bar nights simply because Gai always requested it. Although the 'Copy Ninja' had to admit that they usually ended up being pretty funny.

The collective group of shinobi, minus Kakashi, took a drink from their bottles and started to chat about various different topics. They spent a long time going over Hayate's relationship with his girlfriend Yugao, Asuma's romantic interest in a red-eyed newly made jōnin, Gai's various 'competitions' against Kakashi, and other different topics. After a few bottles of sake, Hayate started a new topic.

"So…ahem…" He coughed before continuing to speak. "Did any of you get assigned a genin team?"

"Yup." Kakashi raised his hand in response.

"And the team of brats has already failed, am I right?" Asuma questioned with a snicker.

"…hmm…I guess so." Kakashi said with a shrug. "I got a boy who is emotionally distraught because he didn't get put on a team with his 'girlfriend', a boy who was forced into the academy by his parents and doesn't want to become a shinobi at all, and a girl who thinks she's better than her classmates because both of her parents are jōnin." The 'Copy Ninja' stopped talking to sigh. "I'm going to give them the bell test, but I don't think they are going to pass."

"That's unfortunate Kakashi. I was hoping that both of us would be passing our teams!" Gai stated dramatically. "I had high hopes that we would both have a star pupil who would become eternal rivals like the two of us!"

Kakashi blinked in response. "…did you say something Gai?"

The spandex-wearing jōnin was about to complain about Kakashi's 'hip' attitude, but he was interrupted by Anko.

"May whatever God is out there look down upon your students Gai. They are going to need all the help they can get." She stated.

"So rude…" Gai lamented.

"Heh, well maybe you'll get a rival from my team." Shisui commented with a chuckle.

"You were assigned a genin team?" Hayate asked with wide eyes before he started to cough.

"…yeah, why?" The Uchiha gave Hayate a strange look.

The swordsman simply shrugged in response. "You seem like the type…ahem…who would refuse to take a team."

"Oh believe me, I did! I thought Itachi was messing with me when he assigned me to a team." Shisui admitted with a chuckle. "But, you know, I met the kids today and I honestly think they aren't half bad. I think they could become something one day."

"Seriously?" Anko gave the Uchiha a strange look. He nodded in response, which caused her to shrug. "You're brave then. I'd never consider passing a genin team. No way would I ever be a glorified babysitter!"

"Anko-san, what an unyouthful thing to say! Being a sensei for a genin squad is one of the most rewarding honors any shinobi can receive and I am indeed honored to have a team assigned to me!" Gai exclaimed as he turned and gave Shisui a thumbs up and a smile. His teeth seemingly gleamed. "I wish you the best of luck with your team Shisui-san and I hope that the two of us can lead our genin to a legacy of greatness!"

"Heh. Wait a bit and see if they pass my genin test." The Uchiha chuckled. "But yeah, I wish you the same luck as well Gai."

The rest of the night passed by quickly. Shisui returned back to his apartment shortly after midnight and went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day and he wanted to make sure he was wide awake.

* * *

'…_am I even in the right part of the village?'_ Naruto asked himself as he walked down a street.

It was the day of the 'true' genin test and Naruto was currently looking for the meeting place that Shisui had told them to go to. He had given each of them a small card that had the location mapped out where there exam would take place.

Naruto had assumed that the exam would be taking place in on the multiple training grounds in Konoha. Instead, his exam appeared to be happening in the middle of the streets in Konoha. The map was taking the blonde into the edge of the village and towards an area of the village that was undergoing construction.

The blonde continued to wander the streets, trying to reach the destination marked on his card. Nearly thirty minutes after he started searching, he finally found it: a small park filled with many different flowers and trees. It was the only area in this part of the village that seemed to be 'completed' and not under any form of construction. Standing in this park by the trees were Neji and Tenten, the two genin assigned to Naruto's team. A grin developed on Naruto's face as he rushed over to them.

"Hey! Guys!" Naruto shouted.

Tenten and Neji, who were both previously just waiting in silence, turned their heads in the direction of the blonde. Neji quickly turned his head back while Tenten smiled back to the boy and waved at him.

"How are you doing Naruto? You ready for today?" She asked him.

"You bet! I was born ready!" Naruto exclaimed with a smile.

"If you were 'born ready', then you probably would have arrived earlier. You were almost late." Neji commented, still not looking at Naruto.

Naruto responded by glaring at the Hyūga. "Hey shut up Neji! I've never been to this part of the village, so I got lost. Sue me!" The Uzumaki then started to look at the area around him in curiosity. "Where are we anyway? This doesn't look like a good place to take any kind of test in."

"The official name for this whole area is Shibuya. It's going to become a new residential area of Konoha." Tenten commented, getting Naruto's attention. "Construction started here a little less than a month ago. It's going to be kinda expensive from what I hear, so its geared more towards the wealthy citizens and the jōnin that take enough high-ranked missions to afford a place out here. But when it's finished, it's supposedly going to be really nice."

"Ah, I see." Naruto nodded his head in understanding. Still, the blonde did seem confused. "But then why are we taking our test all the way out here?"

Tenten opened her mouth to respond, but a new voice spoke up before her. "It's the perfect place, that's why!"

Naruto and Tenten jumped back in surprise at the voice. Neji himself turned his head in the direction of the voice. Standing at the very top of one of the trees in the park was Uchiha Shisui. He was holding a brown cardboard box filled with different weapons and traps inside of it. The man jumped down to the ground in front of the students carefully, making sure the contents inside his box did not fall out.

"Were you there the whole time Shisui-sensei?" Tenten asked in surprise. "I can't believe Neji or I didn't notice you!"

"Nah, don't stress out about that. I just got here as well." Shisui responded sheepishly.

'_Even if he is a jōnin, the fact that he got up to that tree without any of us noticing or hearing a thing is impressive.'_ Neji made a mental note as he studied the Uchiha. _'Interesting. I wonder what he is capable of.'_

"Shisui-sensei, how is the area perfect for the exam?" Naruto spoke up.

"Well, it's perfect for MY exam. Which I guess I'm going to have to explain to you guys now." Shisui shrugged in response before starting to speak. "Basically, our exam is going to be a giant search mission throughout the construction grounds."

"…huh?" Naruto blinked.

"…I probably didn't explain that well at all." The Uchiha sighed to himself. "Basically, I'm going to end up hiding somewhere in the construction grounds of the area and you all are going to have to find me. I'm going to be trying to avoid you and you all need to keep on my trail and make sure that I can't get away. If one of you is able to find me and touch me, even if it's just my shirt or something, then you all will pass."

"Wait, does only one of us need to touch you?" Tenten questioned, slightly confused.

"Yup! But just saying, it doesn't mean that one person will be able to do all the work for you guys. Not to brag or any of that, but nothing less than all three of you working together will be able to even find me, let alone actually reach me." Shisui answered with a shrug.

"You're a jōnin. Even if the three of us worked together, you should still be able to avoid us no matter what we do." Neji commented with a slight glare.

"I realize that, and I am going to dumb down my own evasion skills. But in the end, I can do whatever I want. This is my test and I make up the damn rules. If you have a problem with that, well, you can bitch and rant to the academy instructors when you return there after failing." Shisui responded nonchalantly.

Naruto and Tenten gulped at the prospect of failure. Neji, on the other, hand glared at the jōnin in response.

"Anyway…just saying, this exam actually is taking me a lot longer to prepare than I had thought. I thought I'd be done with all the stuff by now, but I'm not." The Uchiha commented sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "So…yeah, I'm going to have to postpone the test for one more hour though."

"What do you mean by that? What preparations do you need to do?" Naruto asked loudly out of irritation and impatience. "You told us the exam would be at noon and we are here at noon!"

Tenten nodded in agreement. Even Neji made a slight head gesture that showed he was interested in his sensei's response.

"See this box?" Shisui asked, holding up the brown box. His three students nodded. "It's full of traps that I'm setting throughout the construction ground."

"You're setting traps for us?" Tenten asked in shock.

"No shit." The Uchiha rolled his eyes. "Any battlefield or area during a mission could be filled with traps. And any skilled shinobi will be able to spot them and avoid them."

'_Oh man…this might be tough.'_ Naruto gulped. He could see different sticks of firework sticking out of the box and he felt himself starting to sweat.

"Anywho, I need to finish setting everything up. Shouldn't take more than an hour though." Shisui noted. "I'll be back as soon as I finish setting things up. You all can use the time to strategize or something. Do whatever you want…just please don't go out wandering while I'm gone or something. I want to get this started as soon as I can! I already made plans and I don't like that this exam is going to take longer than I planned for!" The Uchiha proceeded to give his students a glare. "So, don't leave the area until I get back. If I come back and you all aren't here, I will fail all three of you on the spot."

On that note, Shisui disappeared immediately without a trace. His three students were staring wide-eyed at the spot on the ground where he previously was.

"…well this exam is going to be serious business." Tenten remarked dryly with a nervous chuckle.

"I'll say." Naruto responded with a similar uneasy laugh.

"Shisui-sensei did give us an hour to prepare for the exam. That will be very useful for us." Neji commented.

"That's actually true! We at least have a lot time to prepare for this thing." Tenten agreed, thinking on a more positive light than what she had previously.

"…yeah, yeah. We can totally come up with a kickass plan that'll work!" Naruto declared excitably, all traces of nervousness gone. "So, do any of you guys have an idea for a plan?"

"Naruto, I'd advise not participating in this exam, as you'll just hold us back. Tenten and I will find Shisui and capture him." Neji informed him sharply.

"Neji!" Tenten glared at the Hyūga prodigy.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Naruto glared at the Hyūga. "I know you think you're hot shit and all, but you do realize that Shisui-sensei outright said that it's gonna take the three of us to find him!"

"That may be true for a normal team of genin, but I have reason to believe that you will simply hold us back. I looked up more information on you and I learned that you tried to graduate the year before and failed. What once seemed impressive, graduating a year ahead of your class, now doesn't seem impressive at all when you realize that you actually tried to graduate two years ago and failed the test." Neji explained his train-of-thought before he looked at Naruto in a condescending manner. "Once a failure, always a failure. Just stay out of our way during this exam and you'll pass."

"Hey asshole! You don't know shit!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "So what if I failed once before? I didn't really take myself or my studies seriously then. I'm better now!"

"That's what you say, and you may have put more of an effort this year, but you can never fully change yourself. Everyone will remain the same way that fate had intended them to be. In your case, you were a failure and will always remain a failure." Neji answered with the same condescending look.

The Hyūga looked as if he was going to continue, but he was interrupted by Tenten. "Neji shut up!"

The kunoichi sighed in frustration as she massaged her temples. "Look, Naruto may have failed the test a while ago, but he obviously passed this year! He's more than capable and can help us! Don't go judging him until you see what he can do!"

'_Tenten…'_ Naruto was staring at the kunoichi with wide eyes. It was rather uncommon for someone to openly defend him in such a manner, let alone someone who he had just met.

"Hmph." Neji scoffed. "Believe what you want. I'm just saying what I see from the facts."

Tenten opened her mouth to speak again, but this time, Naruto spoke up.

"Hey, Neji, you say you know me from my pranks and stuff, right?" He asked. Neji nodded, which caused him to continue. "So you know how long it takes for me to get caught, right?"

"I cannot say. I don't believe I came across that information." Neji replied with a shrug. "What about it?"

"Then you don't know that it takes the shinobi after me around two to three hours to catch me!" The Uzumaki declared with a smug grin. His statement caused Neji's eyes to widen. "Yeah, they say you're a prodigy and you probably aren't bad at stuff. But I'm not the horrible failure you think I am and I'll prove it today!"

"…" Neji developed a grin on his face. His grin had elements of smugness and curiosity. "Then we'll see today if you prove me wrong or not."

"Heh. We'll see dattebayo!" Naruto replied, his grin matching Neji's.

The two boys got into a stare-off, neither one dropping their gaze at the other. Neither Naruto nor Neji were blinking. Nearly a minute passed before Tenten coughed in annoyance, getting their attention.

"Yeah, you guys do remember about our exam, right? The one we should probably prepare for?" She asked them sarcastically.

"Heh. Of course!" Naruto nodded with a nervous chuckle before his eyes filled with determination. "So, let's plan this. Who is good at what?"

* * *

The three academy graduates were able to quickly make up a plan for their upcoming exam. Neji, who possessed the Byakugan, would be able to search through the unfinished buildings and would be able to spot Shisui. He would be the one who would keep track of Shisui's movements during the exam.

Tenten was someone who apparently had a skill for weapons and a variety of different uses you could use them for. Therefore, her role was to use the weapons that she had brought with her and create as many different traps as she could. She would place them in different locations throughout the areas by any of Shisui's discovered traps to trip him up. She, along with her teammates, had suspected that the Uchiha would discover them and wouldn't actually fall for them. They would, however, would cause him to have to slow down to avoid them, meaning that they would indeed impede his movements.

Naruto was the one who was delegated the responsibility of reaching Shisui and touching him. He, having experience of running from his time escaping the shinobi chasing him, stood the best chance of actually being able to catch Shisui.

Naruto would move ahead of his teammates. Neji would inform of any changes in Shisui's movements, which would cause Naruto and his teammates to follow him. Whenever they found any of Shisui's traps, Tenten would recreate her own in hopes that, if they chased Shisui back to them, they would be able to slow him down slightly. Their plan was slightly crude, but it was the best chance that they felt they had.

Having designed their plan, the three academy graduates remained at the park, waiting impatiently for their sensei to finish his preparations.

"Ah, how long does it take someone to set up a few traps? Shisui-sensei is really taking his sweet time." Naruto groaned.

"Honestly, the guy's probably messing with us. Just making us wait because he's a perverted jerk!" Tenten grumbled.

Neji said nothing. The boy had decided to use his time to meditate. He had no complaints or issues with the Uchiha taking more time.

* * *

Around fifty minutes had passed since Shisui had left and Naruto and Tenten were at a newfound level of irritation and impatience. It was at this moment that a loud explosion was heard further down in the construction area.

Naruto and Tenten turned their heads in the direction of the explosion in surprise. Neji broke his meditation and looked in the same direction.

"What was that?" Naruto questioned in panic.

Tenten opened her mouth to answer, but another explosion sounded off in the same direction. This time, the noise was even louder.

"Okay, that isn't normal. Something's going on over there!" Naruto exclaimed frantically.

Neji noticed that the blonde looked as if he was going to run in that direction. Remembering the words of their sensei about leaving the area, he proceeded to speak up.

"Relax, Naruto. The explosions could be a result of construction." He stated calmly. "Or, maybe Shisui-sensei is over in that direction, setting up traps. Maybe one of his traps went off and caused the explosion. There's no reason to leave and check it out. Everything is fine."

Naruto looked over at Neji and nodded at the answer. He seemed to accept it and started to calm down. Just as he was finally to be at ease again, another explosion went off in the same direction. They could now see that one of the buildings in the distance was on fire. The Uzumaki's eyes widened. He proceeded to turn his head to Neji and point at the fire.

"There's no way that's for construction! And I sure as hell think Shisui-sensei wouldn't make his traps like that to kill us! Something is going on that way…something bad!" Naruto declared loudly.

Neji's eyes narrowed on the fire. He was now seeing the explosions in a different light and was now considering the source of them to be a potential threat.

"What are we going to do about it though?" Tenten asked in the same frantic tone of voice as Naruto.

"I'm going over there!" Naruto stated.

Tenten's eyes widened. "By yourself? What about what Shisui-sensei said?"

Naruto's eyes were focused on the fire as he spoke with a voice filled with a mixture of nervousness and determination. "He'll have to understand. Something is going on over there and someone could be over there in trouble!"

The kunoichi agreed with her blonde teammate. Something was indeed happening in the distance and it did not seem innocent at all. The blonde was also right. Someone, such as a construction worker or a resident of the village on a walk, could be over there in trouble.

"…you're right. Then I'll go with you!" Tenten declared.

Neji stared in the direction of the fire intently. He then brought his fingers together. "Byakugan!"

The Hyūga, using the Byakugan, was able to see over into the area that was on fire. He could make out a figure of a figure wearing a black cloak making hand signs.

"Someone is over there causing the explosions." Neji stated, his eyes fixated on the figure. "…if you two are going over there, then you'll have to find them. I'll help."

Naruto gave his two teammates a nod before he started to run in the direction of the fire. Tenten and Neji followed behind as fast as they could.

* * *

It took the academy graduates around one minute of sprinting to reach the area with the burning building. Standing in front of it was, as Neji said, a figure wearing a cloak. The physical appearance of the person could not be determined at all. What was noticeable, though, was that the person was making hand signs and causing explosions in the area.

As Naruto, Tenten, and Neji arrived, Tenten tried to throw a kunai at the figure's head. The person, however, managed to react in time and avoid the weapon. The person then stared in the direction of the newly-arrived academy graduates.

"What are you doing over here?" Naruto demanded.

"…none of your business kid." The figure responded in a feminine voice, identifying the person as female. "You brats move along now. Don't want any of you getting hurt."

"Bullshit that it isn't our business! We're Konoha shinobi and you're attacking our village!" Naruto declared as he pulled a shuriken.

The woman, seeing the shuriken, quickly jumped backwards and started to make hand sings. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

She released a giant fireball from her mouth aimed at the academy graduates. Naruto, Tenten, and Neji jumped out in time to avoid the fireball. Naruto responded by tossing a shuriken at the woman. Tenten pulled out a set of kunai of her own and started chucking them at the woman. She proceeded to dodge all the thrown weapons as she started to run up to them, making hand signs of her own.

Neji, seeing her come forward, starting to run towards her ahead of his teammates. He reached the woman before she finished her hand signs and tried to land a palm strike on her. She dodged his attack by moving to the side. She then grabbed his shoulder tightly with her land hand raised her right hand to punch him. Just as she was about to, Naruto quickly rushed over and stopped her. The boy landed a fist at her, knocking her back away from Neji.

"…heh, you are fast I guess." Neji noted.

"You bet I am!" Naruto declared with a smirk. "Now come on, let's take this woman down!"

"I can see that her chakra levels are around jōnin-level. This is going to be very difficult, if even possible at all. We are all going to have to be very careful." Neji advised.

"Hold on a sec!" Tenten told them as she took a scroll out of her pocket. She tossed it into the air and made a hand sign. The scroll released a series of kunai that had explosive tags attached to them into the sky. The tags were activated and blew up in the sky, creating a loud, very visible explosion in the air. "Hopefully that'll clue someone else in on what's going on over here!"

"Heh. Smart thinking!" Naruto complimented.

"Back-up is going to be needed." Neji noted. His eyes then stiffened as he turned to face the woman again, noticing her preparing for a jutsu. "Naruto, Tenten, be careful!"

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

The woman released multiple, smaller fireballs from her mouth aimed at the academy graduates. Naruto, Tenten, and Neji were able to jump out in time of most of the fireballs, but Tenten wasn't able to avoid them all. She received a hit to her left leg, which caused her to wince in pain as she felt her leg burning.

She then took this moment to rush up to them. She delivered a punch to Tenten's face, knocking her backwards into another building. She fell to the ground hard after making contact with the building.

"Tenten!" Naruto shouted, taking his eyes away from the woman and towards his teammate.

The woman, seeing an opening, rushed in on Naruto. The blonde wasn't able to react in time as her fist connected with his face. The boy was sent backwards into the same building as Tenten.

"Some shinobi you all are!" The woman laughed almost maniacally before turning to Neji. "I'm only going to say this one more time: you brats need to leave me alone. I'm doing my thing and nothing any of you do are going to stop that!"

Neji cursed mentally, but he made an effort to stay calm outwardly. Panicking was not going to help him, Tenten, and Naruto survive.

'_Perhaps a bluff…'_ He wondered before he let a false grin appear on his face.

"It does not matter if we stop you or not: we've stalled you enough. That explosion we released into the air was a distress signal. Backup will be coming." Neji told her. "You will not accomplish whatever you are trying to do here. And frankly, you fighting us is just you wasting your time. You're going to lose here in the end. That is your inevitable fate."

"I don't care if your village catches me or not! I'm just here to wreck things!" The woman laughed.

The woman started to create more hand signs. Neji cursed again in his head. _'Didn't work. Well, whatever. I just need to keep her stalled a little longer.'_

Neji threw multiple shuriken at the woman. She moved out of the way before releasing another fireball from her mouth at the Hyūga. He jumped out of the way just in time and landed on the ground in front of her. He then, quickly, attacked her. Neji landed a palm strike on her elbow, which he followed up with a strike to her right arm. The woman winced in pain slightly before she jumped back to place distance between her and the boy.

"Filthy brat!" She cursed. "I'll-"

The woman never finished her sentence. Naruto and Tenten had gotten up from their positions on the ground. She was now flanked by both academy graduates, both of whom were holding kunai in their hands. They managed to stab the woman in her side, causing her to shout.

"AH!" She hissed in pain.

"Should've been paying more attention to us!" Naruto taunted.

Naruto and Tenten dug their kunai into the woman's side further. The woman hissed loudly in pain again before she disappeared in a poof of smoke. Naruto, Tenten, and Neji had wide eyes as they started to look around.

"Wh-What the hell just happened?" Naruto asked.

"That was a shadow clone…damn, how did I not see that?" Neji cursed to himself.

"Where is she?" Tenten spoke up, scanning the area around them.

At that moment, a quiet clapping sound could be heard throughout the area. "That'd be right here!"

The three academy graduates turned in the direction of the noise and gasped at the sight. The cloaked woman was standing on a rooftop next to Shisui. The young man was smiling proudly at them.

"Hey guys! Great job out there!" He told them.

"What…the…" Tenten's eyes were wide.

"…what's going on?" Naruto questioned dumbly.

Shisui and the cloaked woman jumped down to the ground in front of the academy graduates. The Uchiha was the one to speak first.

"Well, let me be the first to congratulate you all on passing my test. You are all now official genin of Konoha!" He told them, his proud smile still evident on his face.

"…huh?" Naruto blinked in confusion. Tenten seemed equally lost and confused as he was.

"…ah, I see." Neji, unlike his teammates, pieced the information quickly in his head. "This whole event was the true test, wasn't it?"

The Uchiha nodded in response. "Correct. I told you that bullshit test of searching for me because I wanted you all to have a test in mind so you would think that this 'attack' was a legitimate attack: not part of any possible test. What my test truly was to see how loyal you are to Konoha."

Shisui pointed to the building that the academy graduates had seen on fire. The fire was doused and it looked as if it had never occurred in the first place. "I wanted to make sure you all thought that this was an attack on Konoha by a foreign shinobi. So I made sure I released loud fireworks and explosions that you all would have to hear and I even put a genjutsu out to make it look the building over here was on fire. I wanted to make the situation look bad so that you would all think that something could be happening. And I wanted to see what you would all do."

"Oh! I see it now!" Tenten's eyes were wide in understanding. "So, the fact that we left the park to investigate the explosion showed our loyalty to Konoha?"

"You got it! That's why I also told you all that if you left the park, you would all fail the exam. I wanted to test your loyalty to our village compared to what you want." Shisui explained as a serious expression appeared on his face. "Being a shinobi is a serious commitment. It's a sacrifice. So what if I came back and failed you all? If you went out here, saw someone destroying buildings and potentially harming someone, and were able to stop them, then I feel you accomplished something more important than passing some stupid exam."

"Hmm…then what was the point of having us fight her?" Naruto asked as he pointed to the cloaked woman.

"Hmm? Oh, that was just to get a general view of how good you were and see exactly what I was going to need to train you all in when we start training. I wanted to observe it all, and my good friend here offered to help me!" Shisui answered with a laugh.

The woman took off her cloak and revealed herself to be a woman with purple hair styled in a ponytail. She had on a tan trench coat, a fishnet shirt underneath it, and an orange skirt.

"Thanks again for the help Anko!" Shisui told the woman. "It helped a lot getting the chance to watch them fight seriously!"

"Heh, no prob at all. It was fun just screwing with your brats for a bit!" Anko laughed in response.

'…_brats?'_ Naruto frowned at her word choice.

'_It seems like every single jōnin I've seen and heard about recently is eccentric.'_ Neji made a mental note in his head as he thought back to Shisui, Shisui's porn-reading friend, and now the woman in front of him.

A few seconds passed before Shisui turned his attention back his students. He closed his eyes for another second before he looked at the newly-made genin. "I knew that if I were ever given a team of genin, I'd want a team that I feel would have my back in a mission. I want a group that would put the village first before their wants and needs. And I feel like you all will be the genin team that I wanted. So, congratulations again guys. You've earned your promotion to genin."

"…heh." Neji smirked in response.

"Yes! Thank God!" Tenten shouted excitably. After a brief moment of panic yesterday at hearing that there was a chance she could still not graduate, she was now officially a genin.

"It's starting!" Naruto shouted equally as loud. "My career as a shinobi is officially starting! Look out world, Uzumaki Naruto is here dattebayo!"

Shisui laughed as he watched his students react in their own unique, different ways. _'Heh, you know, I may end up having a lot of fun with this job.'_

"Anyway, the exam is all we were supposed to do today. Tomorrow we will actually begin working on the real stuff associated with being a shinobi. Meet me at training ground twenty-nine tomorrow at eight in the morning and we will begin your training!" Shisui informed his students.

"Of course!" Naruto stated. After agreeing to the time, he then turned his attention to Neji with a smug grin on his face. "So, Neji…how'd I do?"

Neji shrugged in the response. "You were better than I had anticipated. Still a trouble-making failure, but you can pull your own weight I see."

"Why you…" Naruto nearly growled, but he held his tongue. Neji had, indeed, admitted that he was 'better than he anticipated', so he was slowly proving himself to the Hyūga. Naruto's grin returned to his face shortly after. "Give it a few more days Neji. I'll show you that I'm no failure!"

"We will see." Neji said dismissively as he started to walk away. "I am going to return home now, if that is all for the day."

The Hyūga walked away, leaving his teammates behind.

"Jackass." Tenten rolled her eyes. "God, he's so smug! I want to punch him in the face one of these days."

"Hey, he's not as bad as you describe him. Jackass, yeah, but I think I'm proving myself to him slowly! I will get him to recognize me!" Naruto declared confidently as he placed his hand on his chest. "Believe it!"

"…Naruto, the way you said that was extremely cheesy. Please don't do that again." The brown-haired kunoichi deadpanned.

The blonde frowned in response. He opened his mouth to say something, but then his stomach growled. This caused Tenten to start giggling while Naruto merely blushed red in embarrassment.

"Heh, I didn't eat lunch today yet. Sorry." The blonde replied with an uneasy laugh.

"No worries Naruto." Tenten continued to giggle. An idea then entered her head. "Hey, if you're hungry and all, want to go get something to eat? To celebrate us passing?"

"…really? You want to go eat somewhere?" Naruto's eyes widened again.

"Uh, yeah. I'm hungry too, you know." The kunoichi said with a laugh.

"Heh, I understand. Yeah sure!" Naruto declared happily.

The two genin waved goodbye to Shisui as they ran off to go get something to eat and celebrate. Shisui and Anko watched the two leave and laughed.

"Well they already seem close already. Good thing too. It's no fun when a team all hates each other!" Shisui commented with a laugh. "Who knows, maybe they'll be able to help me pull out the stick from Neji's ass."

"Good luck with that! That Hyūga seems to reek overconfidence and smugness! It's going to take a lot of effort to end that fate bullshit." Anko noted nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but I think we both know that I can be really stubborn when I want to be, and right now, I just want to completely destroy that fate crap." The Uchiha declared.

"I know you well enough. Now I almost pity the Hyūga for all the abuse you are probably going to put him through!" The purple-haired woman laughed.

A silence passed between the two friends. It was interrupted by Shisui, who needed to ask a question to Anko.

"So…what do you think? You notice anything about their fighting?" He questioned.

"Well…they're not horrible. Especially for genin: honestly they did good in that regard. But they're going to need some work." Anko admitted. "It's going to take a bit of training before I can say they are ready for some of the real kind of stuff we do."

"Yeah, I understand. That's what I was thinking when I observed your fight with them." Shisui nodded in his agreement.

"If you can count them fighting a dumbed down shadow clone version of me as a 'fight'." Anko rolled her eyes.

"They're not ready for the real you yet Anko. Not many people are." The Uchiha noted with a grin.

"True, true. I just reek awesomeness, you know?" She responded with a similar grin.

After more conversation, the two friends parted ways. Shisui spent the entire walk back to his apartment thinking about what had happened and about his genin team. He was now thinking of the different ways and methods he was going to have to train them.

Team five, under Uchiha Shisui, had officially been formed.

* * *

"Here is the list of all the teams that had passed the true genin exam Hokage-sama."

Itachi took the list from the attendant and bowed in thanks. He then started to study the content of the list.

His early predictions proved correct. The teams Itachi had assumed would fail did fail. In contrast, the teams that Itachi did feel would pass did indeed pass.

'_Shisui is going to take on the team.'_ Itachi noted as his eyes focused on Shisui's name. Next to it were the words 'Team Five' and 'Passed'. _'He will helpfully enjoy this. Teaching a genin team would be a good thing for him. It'll certainly be more awarding to him than some of his more…recent missions at least.'_

Itachi stretched his arms and he walked towards the window of his office. The young Godaime Hokage looked out the window and into the heart of Konoha. The village itself was in peace. Things had been peaceful in the village since the Uchiha Clan's Coup was aborted before it was able to begin. Konoha had managed to stay out conflict in the past few years and there was a reported drop in casualties during missions. Ever since Itachi was appointed to become Hokage, things had indeed appeared to become more peaceful for the village.

It was a shame that this peace was simply not going to last for long…

* * *

**Author's Note:** And that is chapter four! :)

Yeah...just an off-hand comment, this is the last chapter that sets up the background for the story. Well, next chapter also to an extent. But now that I have team five established officially, things are about to get fun. And I'm really excited to share with you all the things that I've come up with for this story!

I got a lot of reviews that my chapter-length was alright for them, so I'm guessing that I'm going to keep the chapters at about the same length. Again, they may end up being longer due to the nature of certain chapters, but you can usually expect them somewhere between the 7000-1000 word length. Just saying!

I'm still really amazed by all the support this story has gotten already! Thank you all again so much for all the support and I hope you continue to like it as I continue with the story! I'm going to do my best to write you an enjoyable, unique story! :)

So yeah...leave me a review or a pm about any of your thoughts, opinions, and ideas. Any criticism and critiques only will help my writing improve and will make the story better! I will begin work on the next chapter immediately! I will see you all at the next chapter. Until then :)


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